Welcome to edition 2 of Term 1

Happy Easter everyone!

As ever, Term 1 has been an incredibly busy term with our Year 9 data conversations, Naplan testing and our second VCE information evening to name but a few. 

We have also undertaken our $10.9 Mill Capital Works program and completed our review with DET’s Intensive School Support team.

As always, our Year 9 data conversations are a valuable resource in helping our young people engage with their learning. These conversations use data as outlined below and allow students to reflect on their learning with a Leading Teacher or Principal team member.   I always enjoy the conversations I participate in through this process. Our students consistently demonstrate their strong self-reflection skills and their passion for learning. They are, to a one, able to be insightful, informed and solution focused.

During our second of a series of VCE information evenings, Nicole Mauna and Jesse Blowers explained the VCE assessment process at Forest Hill College. They outlined what an Amber or Red Alert means for your student and explained the sometimes muddling idea of study score versus ATAR and how to best calculate the right result for your studies. Thank you to Nicole and Jesse for their work in this area and  I look forward to Session 3 which will be held on Thursday 29^th May and will cover the GAT, Practice Exams and VCE without a score.

Nicole has also been meeting with teams of teachers to analyse VCE data reports for each subject to ensure continued growth in understanding of key skills and knowledge is taking place in every class, every lesson.

Thank you to Xianjun Chen for running the Naplan testing window in an exemplary manner. This year our processes around Naplan were audited and we passed with no exceptions, well done Xianjun.

Xianjun has also commenced coaching for the Maths Olympiad. So, if your child has been selected to participate in this extension and enrichment program, I encourage you to ensure they utilize Xianjun’s excellent skills to the fullest.

This year, selected students will be participating in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, shadow judging.  This is a wonderful opportunity to read books shortlisted for the award and to offer feedback to the judges, and to cast their vote for the students’ choice of Book of the Year with other students around Australia.  I thank our wonderful librarian Helen Farch and Leading Teacher, Adrienne Baucke for organizing this initiative.

Our Leadership Summit held last week with primary schools, Livingstone and Burwood Heights, was a huge success and I’d like to thank Kim Froelich and Adrienne Baucke for their organization and planning of this event. We are very proud of our College Captains Emily and Jen, for their work in this space and our student leaders across all year levels delivered wonderful learning activities to the primary students.

All the students involved in extension and enrichment activities demonstrate exemplary attendance rates.

Over the next few days, you may receive a congratulatory letter in the post from the Head of School, James Walsh, for the dedicated approach you and your family have to attendance. Please see below information from the Department of Education outlining the reasons for high attendance rates. I encourage all parents to ensure their child attends on every school day. 

 Finally, our building work is moving at a pace. Unfortunately, we have had some issues with strangers entering the site and on separate occasions breaking both water pipes and electrical wiring. This has been rectified and is now in the hands of police. The builders assure me that the disruptions have not impacted expected delivery dates for Science and the Canteen, both expected to be open in Mid November.

I wish everyone a safe and happy Easter break and look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 22^nd April 2025.

 

Nicky Buckingham

Principal (Acting)

Every day counts

Secondary School Attendance

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your teenager’s education.

Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

 School is better when your teenager is there

Why it’s important

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.

Students develop good habits by going to school every day – habits that are necessary to succeed after school, whether in the workplace or in further study.

Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including VCE & VCE/VM, and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.

Each missed day is associated with falling behind in subject topics and assessment tasks, and lead to fewer subject choices and may impact on achievement in years 11 and 12 and post-school pathways.

Getting in early

It’s never too late to improve attendance. Even in the middle years, when school can seem the most challenging for students and when attendance rates can be at their lowest, going to school more often can make a big difference. Every day counts.

Schools are there to help – if you’re having attendance issues with your child, speak to your school about ways to address those issues.

In Victoria school is compulsory for children and young people aged 6 – 17 years

Student Absences

The main reasons for absence are:

Sickness – There are always times when students need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and setting good sleep patterns, eating well and exercising regularly can make a big difference.

Family holidays – It’s vital that holidays are planned during school holidays where possible, and not during the term. If you are planning to go on holiday during term time, make sure that you talk to your school in advance, and work with them to develop an absence learning plan.

“Day off” – Think twice before letting your teenager have a “day off” as they could fall behind their classmates – every day counts.

Truancy – This is when students choose not to go to school without their parent’s permission or skip out of school during the day. There can be many reasons for truancy; the best way to address this is for schools and parents to work together.

While all absences can effect academic performance, DET’s statistics show that unexcused absences are a much stronger indicator of lower reading and maths achievement.

School refusal – School refusing children experience significant emotional distress not only when going to school but also at the thought of going to school; they may be absent from school for weeks or even months at a time. School refusal differs from truancy as children generally stay home with the knowledge of the parents and despite their best efforts to encourage their child to go to school. See: My child or teenager has anxiety

Being away from school for 1 day a fortnight equals missing 1.5 years over 13 years of school

If your teenager is away

If for any reason your teenager must miss school, there are things you can do with your school to ensure they don’t fall behind:

Inform the school via your teen’s Form/Home Room teacher or Year Level Coordinator

Find out what work your teenager needs to do to keep up.

Develop an absence learning plan with your teenager’s teacher and ensure they complete the plan.

Remember, every day counts. If your teenager must miss school, speak with your home room teacher or year level coordinator as early as possible.

Openly communicating with your teenager’s school about all absences is a good way to prevent attendance issues being escalated to a School Attendance Officer. A School Attendance Officer is a Department of Education and Training Regional Director who has authority to follow up attendance issues. Chronic or ongoing attendance issues that are escalated can lead to an Infringement Notice being issued to parent/s.

If you’re having attendance issues with your teenager, please let the year level coordinator, wellbeing coordinator, principal or other relevant staff member know so you can work together to get your teen to school every day.

Top attendance tips for parents

Schools want to work in partnership with parents – act early if you have any concerns by contacting your child’s school and asking for advice and support

Remember that every day counts

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes and their social connectedness

Talk positively about school and the importance of attending every day

Open and prompt communication with your child’s school about all absences is a good idea

Avoid making routine medical and dental appointments during the school day or planning family holidays during the term

Leadership Summit

Last Friday our Student Leaders ran a Leadership Summit for student leaders from two of our local primary schools.

Our leaders took them through a number of sessions highlighting the qualities of a leader.

These sessions were a mix of presentations and activities that were used to practise the skills or consolidate their understanding.

After lunch we spent the last part of the day, mentoring the students as they tackled a problem they had identified from their school.   

The day culminated in presentations from the primary students and discussion about the day and what they had learned.

All students who participated should be congratulated for being wonderful role models to the younger students.

Adrienne Baucke

Leading Teacher : Enrichment and Excellence, Positive Education, Student Leadership

Harmony Day

 

Our Student Leadership students organised a number of activities during Harmony Week in March.

There was a ‘wear it orange’ day on the Friday and activities in the library.

The ‘where in the world’ scavenger hunt was also very popular.

On the Wednesday of Harmony Week students and staff came together on the oval to form the word ‘UNITE’ in recognition of the Harmony Day theme of diversity.

Adrienne Baucke

Leading Teacher : Enrichment and Excellence, Positive Education, Student Leadership

School Library News

On Tuesday March 22nd our Book Club students and staff were excited to have a visit from local author Troy Hunter.  We had all read Troy’s book, ‘Gus and the Missing Boy’, and we were looking forward to discussing the book with Troy.

We would like to thank the Parent’s Association for providing the funds to allow us to purchase 10 copies of Troy’s book so each of the book club members had to opportunity to read it before his visit.

Even better, we got to hear all about Troy’s next book, ‘Gus and the Burning Stones’ which will be published later this year.

Keep up to date with everything happening in the school library by following our Instagram, @fhclibrary

Helen Farch

Library Technician

Sports News

In term 1 we had an overwhelming number of sign-ups for Volleyball which was wonderful to see, as each year level represented our school extremely well on our interschool sport days.

On each of our Senior, Intermediate and Junior days all students put their best foot forward to try and beat the competition, but unfortunately we all couldn’t progress to the next round.

Luckily enough, our Intermediate Boys team fought for their spot in the grand final advancing them to the next round.

They competed soon after at regionals to the best of their ability but didn’t get the result they hoped for.

Our team was very disappointed but should be congratulated on their fantastic effort, we are very proud!

Following from our Swimming Carnival earlier in term 1, we had two students’ progress to represent our school at the Mullum Division Swimming Carnival, Ethan Co (Year 10) and Yuu M (Year 7).

Both students swam exceptionally well, hitting the podium after each race coming second and third place in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly.

Excitingly, for the final race of the day Ethan was able to achieve a first place in backstroke advancing to the next round.

Ethan has shown great progress towards his swimming endeavours, and we are so proud that he was able to represent our school at the regional stage coming 6th place, well done Ethan!

Lastly, a special mention to our Senior Boy’s Baseball team who will be participating in the regional stage early next term!

Congratulations to all students for a wonderful sporting term!

Bridget Mimmo

Sports Coordinator