Weekly Wrap
Week 5, Term 1
Welcome to Week 5.
Student Parliament was in session today at the College, attended by local MP Neil Angus.
Neil was invited to sit in and view a session in progress. Later, Neil spoke to his commitment to his constituents. Mentioning the broad population he represents such as differing age, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. The environment was also a keenly discussed topic, spoken about with energy and passion by our students.
This week we received the great news that Jack Baker (Yr. 12), College Prime Minister, has been selected to attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC).
Approximately 120 students from government, independent and Catholic schools from across Australia, covering metropolitan and country areas attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention every year in Canberra.
The Convention seeks to promote understanding and informed discussion amongst young Australians about the Australian Constitution and system of government.
In addition to participating in the discussion topic – ‘Federalism: the Constitution and Australia’s Water’, Jack will attend Government House, have dinner at the High Court of Australia and make a presentation of the Communiqué to the President of the Senate on Thursday 19 March.
Also this week, students Jack and Chi Kiet, attended the Lions Club Youth of the Year district final. Jack represented Forest Hill College as a finalist along with students from Blackburn High, Kingswood College and Mullauna College.
Jack participated in an interview and presented a 5 minute speech on a topic of his choice – ‘Freedom of the Press’. He also answered two impromptu questions:
How would you tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution?
And
What is the greatest gift you can give and why?
Scores were awarded out of 100 and students were judged on initiatives taken in and outside of school, general knowledge, presentation, speech and impromptu question responses.
I’m pleased to announce that Jack won the Youth of the Year award. He will now go onto the Zone final this coming Sunday.
A big thank you to teacher, Miss Savige for her excellent support of Jack through both processes.
MC: Jeni Franklin with Jack
Although not quite swimming weather, our students celebrated the annual Swimming carnival at Waverly Aquatic Centre this week.
The day started off cold and wet, but with the resilience that our students are becoming renowned for, they persisted and a great day was had by all. This was the largest attended swim carnival in recent College history, and we congratulate all students for their efforts.
The day is more than a swim meet. It is actually held with the purpose of relationship building in mind. Staff work hard to use the time to get to know students and to give students an opportunity to meet new friends. Thanks to Mr Christie for his great work overseeing the carnival.
Throughout the week it became evident that the temporary lockers we had secured for our Year 7 students were inadequate. The decision was made to relocate their lockers from the Leonardo Centre into the Middle Years Centre. This happened on Thursday and we had many very happy Year 7 students by the end of the day. We did have a protracted training session on how to use the new combination padlocks, which can be one of the more challenging aspects to Year 7 life.
Our first College Council meeting for the year was held on Wednesday evening this week, following Parents Association on Tuesday evening. Both forums play a big role in our community. Currently we are working with the Parents Association to establish a group of parents who can help out with reading for some of our students who would benefit from some additional reading time through the school week. Currently all students have 15 minutes of silent reading at the start of English classes. We do have a small cohort of students who require some additional reading help. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me via d.rogers@fhc.vic.edu.au
Have a great weekend.
David Rogers – Principal