Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Our “The Outer Edge” (TOE) Program includes the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.  This week, I presented four awards to Matt Dalla Rosa, Shelbie Buckwell and Trent Grant (Stephanie Swain was also eligible but was absent on the day) who completed their Award in 2008 but had not received their certificates.  The Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award is recognised world-wide and young people are require to complete four parts of the program to receive the Award. These include community service, a skill, a physical recreation component and  two expeditions. These first three parts of the program need to be carried out for three or six months each. Each of these students showed a great commitment to the program and were involved in some interesting activities including helping out in retirement homes, coaching netball, cooking, various sports and other activities. Congratulations to these students and the many others from the 2007 and 2008 programs who have also completed their DOE.

Term 2 Music Concert

Our Beginner, Junior, Intermediate and Senior Concert Bands, along with the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Jazz Bands and VCE performance Group performed at the Yarra Plenty Christian Centre on Monday, 22 June 2009.  I congratulate all our Music students, our teachers, the “Friends of Music” group and Music Captains, Stephanie Franklin and Andrew Barras of Year 12, who hosted the evening for their involvement in the evening.

Plain English Speak Awards

On Wednesday, 24 June 2009, I joined Year 12 student and Vice Captain, Lachlan Campbell and his family at the Plain English Speaking Awards at Treasury Theatre.  Lachlan’s prepared speech was about cyber-bullying and his impromptu speech topic was “a breath of fresh air”.  I congratulate Lachlan on reaching this level in the competition.

Classroom Visits

The Principal Class Team visits classrooms each week and are invited to special celebrations too.

In the past two weeks I have observed first hand Year 10 students completing their Steam and Flight project and furniture pieces.  Their enthusiasm and pride was evident as students explained their work and how they had undertaken each stage. 

May I congratulate all students, their teachers, Mr Stuart Kneeshaw and Mr Marvin Wright, Mr Darren Paxton and Mr Bruce Whittaker, our Technology SSO, on their achievements with students.

The Year 7 Humanities classes have been studying Egypt over past weeks.  Students were required to produce an ancient Egyptian artefact. They showed their museum pieces to each other and all students assessed each other.  Photos of the students’ projects are published in this week’s St Helena NEWS, available through the link above.

Congratulations to our Year 7 students for their creative museum pieces, masks, foods and costumes

Vacation Works

The Performing Arts Centre Redevelopment Project is progressing very quickly. Now, the concrete base for the new building has been laid and construction is under way. 

The terracing of the earth wall adjacent to the lower basketball courts on the eastern side of our oval will begin and two new sets of stairs will be erected.

Trudy Thomson

Principal

Reports Collection

Reports will be available for parents today, 26 June 2009.

Students in Years 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 will collect their reports at a special form assembly at the end of Period 5 (before the students are dismissed at 1.52pm). All students must sign a class list to indicate that they have collected their report. Immediately after this assembly any uncollected reports will be returned to the appropriate mini-school office for collection in Term 3. As Year 10 students will be on Work Experience, their reports will be available for collection from the Middle School Office on Friday, 26 June between 11.00am and 2.00pm.  Parents, or siblings with a notes from parents, will be able to collect the reports.

I thank the Curriculum team, Mr Alan Withers and Mr Tom Olney for organising and running off reports for staff to read and edit and all staff for making sure the reports were in on time.

Chaplaincy Committee Fundraiser
Entertainment Books for Sale

You can purchase your book by returning the order form on page 10 of this newsletter, or by contacting Mr George Willox, 9438 8500 or Mr David Horne, 9438 8536.  

H1N1 Virus

St Helena has weathered the H1N1 virus threat as well as any other business, school or institution.  I want to thank our College community for taking the extra precautions of keeping unwell child(ren) at home and reinforcing additional hygiene measures; washing hands, covering mouth/nose when sneezing and using and disposing of tissues.

We hope that our families will have an opportunity to rest and those who are unwell will recover during our Term break. We look forward to all students returning fit and well at the commencement of Term 3, which begins on Monday, 13 July 2009 (8.25am to be ready for Form Class).