Weekly Wrap

Dear all,

Welcome to week 3

Accessible Pathway

Work on the path from the front fence on Mahoneys Road to the General Office will commence very soon. A site meeting was held today to plan out the logistics. The building permit is now secured, and we are expecting work to be completed this year. This will enable much safer foot traffic access for our community in and out of the College as well as appropriate wheelchair access. This project will impact the staff car park, and we will communicate with you should there be a need to alter access temporarily during the works.

Uniform Review

Some of you may have awareness that our Uniform Policy is currently being reviewed on behalf of the College Council. A subcommittee has been formed to review the current school uniform, and reports directly to College Council. College Council has the ultimate say on uniform, and once recommendations have been made from the subcommittee will no doubt form a view on any changes to our Policy. The group met this week, inviting current uniform contract holder, Niran, from Victoria Schoolwear, to attend. The subcommittee heard from Niran and were able to ask questions to inform their findings.

Bees on a Mission

This week our Senior VCAL class officially opened the Library Courtyard Garden they had refurbished, in conjunction with launching their book that they have written and published this year, “Bees on a Mission.” The book is a children’s book and will be delivered to all Whitehorse Primary Schools in the coming weeks. It has a sustainable message, with all illustrations and text, done by the students. The VCAL class liaised with the local Rotary Club and Whitehorse Council, as they developed the book and refurbished the Library Courtyard Garden. The garden has been designed to take on the message of the book, that through the planting and care of indigenous plants, wildlife, such as Dragonflys, will return to the local habitat.

State Athletics

This week, as you may have seen on Instagram, three College students competed at the State Athletics carnival. Melvin won the U21 110m hurdles, Alec won bronze in the U17 100m sprint and Jay secured 4^th place in the U16 400m. Reaching a State final is an incredible achievement. All 3 students represented the College with great sportsmanship and success, and we are very proud of each of them.

Achievement

Jasper McMahon has been selected in the SSV U15 Touch Football Team to attend the National Championships in Wagga Wagga in the week of the 30^th October. Well done Jasper, this is a great achievement.

 

Have a great weekend,

Dave Rogers – Principal

 

FHC Wellbeing 

 

Hello Students and Parents,

 

Term 4 can be a crazy period in terms of exams, CATs, SACs and life in general!

 

As a Well-Being Team, we thought that we’d reach out and provide some study and wellbeing resources for our school community.

 

There may be times over the next few weeks where students may feel a sense of stress, lack of motivation, tiredness and other mood related feelings. Luckily, there is still heaps of time to implement some positive strategies to make this period more manageable!

 

We have attached some resources down below. This week, the focus is recognising stress and how to manage stress.

 

Also, please let us know if you’d like a chat at school! If you would like to reach out to one of us, please feel free to email us down below:

 

Leigh James – leigh.james@education.vic.gov.au

Mark Goy – m.goy@fhc.vic.edu.au

Sasha Imani – s.imani@fhc.vic.edu.au

Christian Lipscomb – c.lipscomb@fhc.vic.edu.au

 

Have a great week! 🙂

 

FHC Wellbeing Team

 

Parents and Career Mental and Wellbeing Health Toolkit: https://www.vic.gov.au/parents-mental-health-toolkit

 

Other Supports:

 

Eheadspace – 1800 650 890 + Online Chat- https://headspace.org.au/online-and-phone-support

Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800 + Online Chat – https://kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/webchat-counselling

Stress

 

 

Source: https://au.reachout.com/articles/what-stress-does-to-the-body

 

Stress can be experienced in many forms. Some people may feel tired, easily annoyed, prone to headaches and sometimes find it hard to deal with family, teachers or even their friends.

 

Recognising that you are stressed can serve as the first positive step in managing negative emotions and feelings. Bottling such feelings can intensify these issues and ultimately make it harder to handle stressful situations in the short or long term future.

 

Throughout Term 3, the Wellbeing Team noticed that students experienced stress in many forms. School engagement, sleeping and eating concerns were all caused by stress related themes such as academic and social factors. However, strategies and coping mechanisms can help to relieve these factors!

 

 

Strategies and Coping Mechanisms

 

 

 

It has been a long year! Being at school for 4 consecutive school terms in 2022 has been a huge effort for students and parents based on what’s happened throughout the last 3 years. Strategies and routines that worked well during remote learning may need to be adjusted to adapt to full-time face-to-face learning.

 

Everyone has different needs when it comes to managing stress. Some students may prefer to go out for a run or shoot some hoops in their backyard but some other students may want to chill out by listening to music, play video games or by talking to their friends on Discord.

 

Here is a quick test to find out your ‘chill style’:

https://au.reachout.com/articles/whats-your-chill-style

 

 

Strategies that have helped other FHC Students:

 

• Reading and finding a book at our library: http://fhc-lib.fhc.vic.edu.au./oliver/home/news
• Taking a 5 minute break and focusing on their breath;
• Meditation using various mindfulness apps e.g https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app
• Getting some fresh air by going for a walk, playing with their pets, kicking the footy;
• Listening to music on their bed/a quiet space and chatting to friends on social media apps;
• Focusing on hands activities such as playing an instrument, singing, drawing, painting or LEGO.

Strategies can appear in many forms

 

 

Routine

Routines have proven to assist students formulate a schedule that promotes positive mental, physical and emotional lifestyles. A balanced routine and schedule allows for the use of strategies alongside busy school days, extracurricular activities and home life.

 

A routine may help you get to various events on time, allow for self-care, improve your ability to sleep on time and relieve the everyday stressors in life.

 

 

Managing time can also take many forms. Some students may like to use physical diaries to write down events or when assignments are due or when they have a test/exams. Some students like to use calendar apps on their devices with event/reminder notifications. Others students may prefer to rely solely on positive daily habits that form a sound routine.

 

“Did you know that it takes most people 21 days to form a habit?”

 

Here is an example of a routine that a student may have to balance homework, strategies and a good sleeping routine:

 

7am: Wake up and get ready for school

8am: Leave for school

9 – 3:13pm: School

4pm: Afternoon Tea and Chill

4:30 – 6pm – Study and homework

6pm: Dinner

7pm: Chat with friends

9pm: Bedtime

 

When completing homework or studying for a test/exam, students can implement many different strategies to make this process easier. These may include:

 

• a comfortable space to study with natural light and a space that’s quiet;
• By turning on ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your phone to not allow any distracting notifications;
• Be rewarding yourself with video games/virtual catch-ups/movies etc. when you hit certain study goals;
• Using a to-do list to allow productivity and prevent yourself from procrastinating.

 

 

Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge 

2022 

This year all students in years 7, 8 & 9 were registered for the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC). 

The PRC runs from Term 1until September 2nd 2022 and challenges students to read at least 15 books, with at least 10 of these books being from a provided list. 

We are very proud of the 14 students who completed the challenge this year. 

To recognize their efforts, this week we have held award ceremonies in special combined Connect classes, where the students who completed the challenge were awarded a trophy (printed using the 3D printer in the school’s STEAM centre), a gift voucher to Robinsons bookshops (which were kindly donated by Robinsons) and a small prize (some of which were donated by Officeworks Vermont South). 

 

 

Year 8 PRC Awards Ceremony 

In addition to prizes for the students who completed the challenge, in each year level the English teachers choose a number of ‘Teacher’s Choice’ award winners. This is to recognise the wonderful efforts of students who challenged themselves to read this year, even if they didn’t read enough to officially complete the PRC. 

These students were awarded a small trophy and a certificate. 

At Forest Hill College we aim to celebrate the achievements of all our students who perform to the best of their ability. 

The students who completed the PRC are: 

Year 7: 

• Lauren Turney
• Faith Davies
• Gabby Munro
• Ronnie Ngo
• Griffin Booth

 

Year 8: 

• Estella Hill
• Georgie Boucher
• Noah Di Battista
• Anish Sundar

 

Year 9: 

• Henry Chen
• Isabella Parker
• Maddison Munro
• Jennifer Schutz
• Andrew Fowler

Teacher’s Choice awards went to: 

Year 7: 

• Angus Morrow
• Tim Cardwell
• Isla Baird
• Sammi Pollard

Year 8: 

• Hailey Fernando
• Zac Rosso
• Tyson Frangos

Year 9: 

• Kitty Chong
• Francine Cabanatan
• Alaska Dunston
• Hunter Tattersfield

 

 

Interschool EMR Year 7 Girls Table Tennis and Intermediate Boys Basketball 

 

On Friday 14th October, the Year 7 Girls Table Tennis Team and the Intermediate Boys Basketball Team represented Forest Hill College at Regional Level. It was very strong competition in both sports. The Basketball team came so close to making it through to the finals, with two wins and a loss. The Year 7 Girls Table Tennis team put up a good fight in their singles and double matches. They supported each other very well and kept their spirits high, even though they didn’t make it through to the finals. We look forward to seeing these teams compete again next year. 

        

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