N L 11.indd - Ringwood Secondary College

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Newsletter Number 11 September 10, 2010 constant rain before and after the event. Everyone involved enjoyed the walk through the local area, taking in Wombolano Park and the streets of East Ringwood. Ms Milkeraitis and her form, 7C, won the form competition and can now look forward to a half day excursion later in the year. Approximately 150 students raised in excess of $20. Enjoy the accompanying photos. SCHOOLS’ GARDEN COMPETITION Last week the College was judged by a regional representative for the Schools’ Garden Competition and we are optimistic of doing well. The link corridor was full of pictures depicting our journey over recent years in improving the school gardens and grounds. A big thank-you to Ms Currie and Amber Craig for assisting on the morning. SUMMER UNIFORM Some reminders for Term 4: Boys may wear polo tops T shirts are not to be worn under polo tops Mr C. Salisbury Assistant Principal Chaplain Spot I have really enjoyed this term as I have had the opportunity to build some remote control cars with some year 7 students. Apart from being heaps of fun, I loved watching the development I saw within the students. They started the program asking me why they had to build the car rather than just race them. However in the end they were exceedingly proud of themselves because of their achievements. They enjoyed racing the cars all the more because they had built them. The easy option of a pre-built car would have provided some fleeting instant gratification in racing them but would have missed the important step of them realising their ability to build thus growing in their self confidence. Often we want the immediate gratification and are not willing to endure the process and the consequent opportunity to grow. Therefore sometimes we miss it out on making the most of the opportunities that present themselves. Adam Bryant School Chaplain The Year Levels... Middle School VET TASTER Our wonderful Year 10 students began on the second VET Taster course the week after our first success with the EH Holden Station Wagon, which was resurrected in a mere three days. This second crew began with a 1965 HD Holden Premier sedan, last registered way back in 1986. This car was found in a run down private garage in Ferntree Gully, which it had inhabited for the past seventeen years. It had several panels secured with coat hanger wire, no engine or gearbox, no working brakes and among a host of other issues, four flat and perished tyres. After a thorough examination, the students were allowed to commence work. Relative brake components were replaced, an engine was fitted and an automatic transmission was installed in the place where a manual gearbox once resided. On the last Friday half an hour before the end of the school day, the students watched their car driving on the quadrangle. A unique feature was that the original owners’ new car documentation came with the vehicle. While pondering its information, I liked to imagine that the cars’ original Mont Albert family would be proud of what our students have achieved. Senior School YEAR 11 LAPTOPS. Peter Anderson BUYOUT OR RETURN?? ACTION NEEDED... As you would be aware this is the last year of your laptop lease. As such you have a choice to either buy out your laptop paying an additional $290 (if you pay for home use on an annual basis) or ($1 if you paid the full amount minus a dollar initally ) or returning the laptop before your exams to the school, during the week before your exams at times and a room to be advised. If you are returning your laptop you need to ensure that laptop is in full working order, no stickers, graffiti, blink, glitter, jewels etc, any repairs need to be made before handback. If the repairs are not covered by warranty then you will need to pay to have the laptop repaired as per the agreement made with the college. You need to return the laptop, charger, remote, bag, box with the cd’s. If you are purchasing your laptop out right you need to be proactive in bring your laptop in for repair during the term 3 and 4. This is the last year of your warranty so you cannot wait to have repairs completed beyond November / early December. You must meet the deadlines for laptop buy out or return so please discuss this with your parents and be proactive in having repairs completed to your laptop. If you are a day user you need to ensure your laptop is in the correct condition for return. No stickers etc all working and repaired ready to be handed in with bag. A letter has been sent home explaining the cost of buy out if you / your parents gave not received this letter please see Mrs Vasey in the office for a copy Subject Reports LITERACY AND NUMERACY WEEK Ms Rafferty A range of exciting activities were on offer to students during the week. These included: a spelling bee, French fashion parades, calculating prices in Indonesian, digital story telling, 7-10 writing competition, creating a modern text from a Shakespearean text, creating radio segments to be recorded at SYN FM- RMIT, Maths Problem Challenges and timed numeracy activities. Even though Literacy and Numeracy week is over, the emphasis on acquiring literacy and numeracy skills is not. Parents may support their children in the strengthening of these skills by conversing with their children about the activities they undertake at school. Page 4
Newsletter Number 11 September 10, 2010 One significant opportunity is the Maroondah Education Coalition launch of the Year 8 short story competition in recognition of the fact that Year 8 students are encouraged to write and deserve recognition for their writing efforts. The schools in the coalition are promoting this competition and we wish all students luck as they enter their responses. Further details about the competition are included in this newsletter. Staff celebrated the week by sending photos of their bookcases and having their colleagues deduce ‘Whose bookcase is it?’ It was an enjoyable competition that highlighted the diverse reading interests of our staff. INTEGRATED PROJECT ON SUSTAINABILITY HALF TIME PROGRESS What an exciting two weeks it has been! Students are really embracing the learning that is occurring in the project and I have been fortunate enough to watch them in classrooms as they engage in a variety of tasks. These tasks include: writing a persuasive response on the topic ‘Melbournians should drink recycled sewerage water,’ making their own paper, examining the water quality at different sites of the Yarra River and Mullum Mullum creek, identifying and understanding the biodiversity of plants and species in the water they are examining, graphing water usage, collecting recycled materials for creation of their own musical instruments and completing a mind map which explains why is Melbourne going through a water shortage. Students are working in teams to put their collective knowledge into a performance of understanding- in this case their Sustainability board game which they will display at the end of the term in the hall at the Sustainability showcase. This will be accompanied by their own musical instrument and unique piece of music to bring the project to a finale. The crowning glory will be a recycled newspaper cylinder with seeds that students will plant in the garden at home, nurture and report on progress at the beginning of next term. An extension activity for Year 8s is the Future Shots short video on Sustainability that is running with Ms Eversteyn. Mrs Stathatos Teaching and Learning Leader Student Assessment 1. NAPLAN Reports for students should arrive at the College in mid September and these will then be mailed to parents. Additional copies of the reports, where required, will be distributed once they have been received from VCAA. This will occur once all the initial student reports have been distributed. 2. TIMSS Study 2010 One of our Year 8 classes (8F) has been selected to take part in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). TIMSS is an important educational research project investigating student achievement in mathematics and science. More than 60 countries, including Australia, are participating in this study. TIMSS is an important activity to keep us, as parents and citizens, informed Page 5 about how our students in Australia are performing in comparison to their peers in other countries, and to compare programs of study and teaching practices. The results obtained will help improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science in our country. Selected students will do an assessment in mathematics and science and complete a questionnaire about their experiences at home and school. There is no need for students to study specifically for the assessment as it will not affect individual students’ grades or progress in school. All data will be kept strictly confidential and no individual student or school will be identified in published data or reports. The assessment and completion of the questionnaire will take place in mid–November. Julie Yelland Student Progress Leader RSC Classics Odyssey 2011 We are delighted to be able to offer Ringwood Secondary College students the opportunity to participate in our inaugural Classics Odyssey in late November 2011. This 18 day journey through Italy and Greece has been developed to complement Humanities studies undertaken by RSC students and is particularly relevant to those currently studying or planning to study History in VCE. It is open to all students in Years 10-12 in 2011. A detailed Parent Information Session will be held on Wednesday 15th September in the College Library at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you there. There are only 40 places available so if you are unable to attend please contact Kim Watson to express your interest. Media Excursion 3rd September Last Friday the Bridging Program Students went on an excursion as part of their studies of radio and film. We travelled to SYN FM, SBS Radio and ScreenWorlds. Kim Watson, Sarah Kramer, Nathan Hughes and Rob Motton At SYN FM, the students worked together to create their own 20 minute radio show. Each student had previously written a short segment, and practised their pronunciation with a microphone. Three students took on the important roles of Producer, Panel Operator and Music DJ. Visiting and recording in a real radio studio was daunting, but exciting, and for many it was the first time they had heard their voice recorded! There
Page 1 and 2: RSC News The Newsletter of Ringwood
Page 3: Newsletter Number 11 September 10,
Page 7 and 8: Newsletter Number 11 September 10,

N L 11.indd - Ringwood Secondary College

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?