ALTONA P-9 COLLEGE

NEWSLETTER Edition 20: 14 December 2012

Altona P-9 College, 103a Grieve Parade, Altona 3018. Private Bag 9, Altona 3018. T: (03) 9250.8050 E: altona.p9@edumail.vic.gov.au W: www.altonap9college.vic.edu.au

TERM 4. DECEMBER:

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL

TERM Monday 17th Middle Years Beach Program P-4 End of Year Excursion Wonderland Play centre Wednesday 19th Year 9 Graduation Dinner

Thursday 20th End of Year Celebration & Awards Assembly @2.00pm

Friday 21st Last Day of School Year 1.00pm finish

2013 IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday January 29th Book Selling & Essential Item Payment & Pick Up Day from 12.30pm-3.30pm. Thursday January 31st Students First Day Term 1. Friday February 22nd School Photo Day 14-16th March 2013 Year 9 Leadership Camp Mt Buffalo 25-27 March 2013 Year 7 Camp. Camp Curumbene, Corop.

Principal’s Report

I write this report with mixed feelings. This will be our last full newsletter under my leadership as Princi-pal. I think I’m feeling a mix of pride, nervousness, excitement and some sadness, but also a deep sense of comfort knowing that our fabulous school and culture is in safe hands. This is a time of real reflection for me as I think back to the days of 2008 when I arrived at a school struggling through some difficult times. Things were not going too well back then but there was always a flame, burning inside enough people, just waiting to be ignited. Enough people were ready to surge ahead and grow a positive, connected, safe, engaging place of learning. I’m proud that we’ve done this together. I’m immensely proud of the work of the staff who have banded together, set high standards for our students and supported them with all they can to achieve their very best. We’ve still got challenges ahead. Enrolments continue to be tough for our school. There is some local community activity again at the moment around the possibility of setting up structures to explore the need for Years 10-12 in Altona. Any developments would be a long way down the track but it’s positive that the wider community is thinking ‘big’ about the future of our school too. I’ve not been involved in this in any way but it may come up again in the local press. It’s exciting and I know that the team we’ve got will ensure that the years ahead are the most formative, constructive, inspiring years possible for your children. Today I am also delighted to announce that Ms Julie Krause has been appointed as acting Principal of our school for the next 6 months. Julie is currently at Seaholme PS as acting Principal while her substantive position is at Point Cook P9. Julie brings a wealth of energy, experience and wis-

dom to our school and I know you’ll be supportive as she settles in. Julie will be more than ably support-ed by some of the best school leaders I have worked with. My close team of leaders have made the past few years truly something extraordinary. Without them we couldn’t have achieved what we have and without them I would feel more uneasy about leaving our school. Our Assistant Principal, Mat Kelly, Student Wellbeing Leader Frances Totney and Year 9 Team Leader Hamish McGee are exceptional teachers, leaders and just such great people. They have moti-vated me, challenged me, supported me and made me laugh every day. They also reflect the broader staff culture and capacity here; it’s exceptional. Altona P9 College and your new principal Julie Krause are lucky to have such a team leading the way. Thank you all. I want to say a huge thank you to you, our families. Whether you’ve been with us for a long time or if you are just beginning Prep next year, thank you for choosing this school and thank you for your sup-port. You have made the right choice for your child. Thank you also to the College Council for your hard work for the past few years. It can be a difficult posi-tion to hold in a school but each of you has performed your duties with integrity and enthusiasm. A spe-cial thanks to Clare Johnstone as our President. It’s been a great pleasure to work with Clare and we wish her all the best as the family move to their new school. Another special thanks to Liz and the fund-raising team too. Your efforts in a small school are incredible and as a community we should all be thankful for what you’ve achieved for the school. Most importantly, I want to thank the students at this school. It has been a great pleasure to work with these kids. Teaching is such a privilege! I feel this privilege strongly. The job we are entrusted to do is noble, meaningful and of fundamental human and social importance. To see a class full of shining eyes because of a teacher’s influence is a true joy. The great majority of students in our school are respectful, caring learners who make me smile and motivate me to try even harder to make the school a better

place. If I think of one key message for all of our students and for you, their families it’s that ‘doing your per-sonal best is all that matters; mediocrity is not our goal’ and ‘taking honest responsibility for your ac-tions is a crucial part of growing up’. Please foster this in your children and resist the temptation to over-protect. Making mistakes, accepting them and learning from them is learning for life and we must allow our kids to experience this. It’s one of the ways we learn to understand resilience. I’ll be watching with care and interest as Altona P9 moves on to bigger and better things in 2013 and beyond.

...continued

End of Year Student Reports Next week your child’s report will be sent home. As I’ve explained before it’s going to appear quite different, due to the

current industrial dispute between the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the DEECD. The AEU and its members have a work-ban in place on all descriptive report comments. This means that the great majority of teachers across the state

won’t be writing reports this time. The intent of this action is to compel the Government to act on teacher working condi-

tions.

I’m disappointed that this action has been taken, but of course I support the position of the AEU. What it will mean for you is that this semester most student reports in our school will simply be the front page of ‘dots’, the indications of pro-

gress against the VELS at this stage. This is vitally important as your child’s assessment will still be numerically clear but

there will be no descriptive comments supporting teacher decisions.

It is unfortunate that this industrial dispute has gone on this long. It is unfortunate that it will now impact on you as well. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher should you have any questions about their progress.

Hats in 2013 – We’re Going Totally Sun Smart!

We have had an odd policy around hats and Sun Smart for some years now due to the unique nature of P-9 schools. On

Tuesday the College Council voted in favour of a whole school, enforced approach to Sun Smart beginning

2013. This means that ALL STUDENTS will be expected to be in a College broad brimmed hat every day of school in Terms 1 and 4.

This policy will be strictly enforced. We will expect to see all students in full College uniform, including their hat from day

1, 2013. Please support the school with this policy and make sure your child is ready for school in their uniform, including

their hat.

The hats are sold at Cc Jeanery in Laverton with the rest of the uniform.

End of Year Assembly and the Last Day You’re all warmly invited to our final Celebration and Graduation Assembly in the gym on Thursday December 20 @ 2

00pm. The assembly will celebrate student achievement throughout the last year and farewell our graduating Year 9 stu-dents.

The last day of school for the year is Friday December 21. Students will be dismissed on Friday at 1 00pm.

Wishing you all a safe, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Keep smiling.

Nathan Chisholm Principal

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world. (R. L. Stevenson)

The end of each year is a great time to stop and reflect; on the goals we have set for ourselves, on whether we

achieved what we set out to do and if we have developed in our attitudes and outlook. One goal many people have for themselves is ‘to be happier’, but sometimes we set ourselves up for disappointment simply because of

the questions we ask.

Recently an international team of happiness experts meeting together to create a policy for the United Nations

talked about the possibility that individuals who are trying to achieve more personal happiness may be asking the wrong sorts of questions. Here are alternative questions that you might find useful in your own quest for

happiness:

How much happiness should I have?

People often simply think they should be happier than they currently are without giving due thought to whether or not this is true. Take stock of your current happiness. Where in your life are you satisfied and where is there

room for growth? How happy would you ideally like to be? When have there been periods of your life when you have achieved, or been close to, this ideal?

How much unhappiness should I have? Feelings of sadness, guilt, and anger act like a radar, scanning and providing information about the quality of

our lives. Negative feelings can signal that problems are occurring and that action must be taken to change courses. It wouldn’t be sensible to try to eliminate negative feelings entirely. How frequently do you experience

negative feelings, and how frequently do you think you ideally would like to?

With whom do you share responsibility for your own happiness?

Happiness is not an individual pursuit. You are connected to other people in a complicated web of loyalty, obli-gation, generosity, protection, and mutual support. Your own happiness is not simply a product of your mind,

but of your decisions concerning other people. Who are the primary stakeholders in your happiness and how do they affect your moods? What does this tell you about your own pursuit of happiness?

By asking these new questions you will redirect your attention and consider your own happiness in a different way.

And finally ~ thank you, thank you, thank you! A special mention must be made at this point of the very generous way two organisations have impacted on the happiness of some of us here at school. A big thank you to the very generous providers to Breakfast Club:

Wonderland Play Centre and Civic Parade Hot Bread Kitchen. Your kindness has been very much appreciated.

Also, a very big thank you to the teachers who assist each week with the running of Breakfast Club, your kind-ness has not only had a huge impact on me but on the children who come along each week.

Wishing everyone much happiness,

Frances Totney Student Wellbeing Leader.

Buddy Reading with Prep/1S

and Grade 2/3 F

This week Prep/1 S joined 2/3F for a reading session. The students worked in pairs or small

groups and spent time reading to each other. Every student involved really enjoyed spending the

time together and did not want to pack up at the end of the session.

What great readers we have in Prep/1S and 2/3F! Good work guys!

Music News Annual College Concert

This term we celebrated our music program with the Annual College Concert. This whole school community event was

held in the gym on the evening of Wednesday 14 November and featured instrumental and vocal items from all stu-dents in Years Prep to 6. Students sang songs and played the marimbas and other instruments to the theme of “Just

for Fun”. Selected students from Year 7 performed on keyboard, along with the College Choir and students from the

string and drum programs. In addition to the performances, the concert featured the art work of Mr Vening’s stu-dents. It was also great to see a number of students from Years 8 and 9 support the concert by helping out or at-

tending.

Our students did an amazing job preparing and performing their items and are to be congratulated on their high level

of achievement. They also looked fantastic in their outfits! Thanks again to class teachers for supporting their stu-dents on the night, and to all staff and students who assisted with front of house, backstage, interval refreshments

and photography. Thanks also to Jake Kennedy and Kaan Ulker in Year 9 for being excellent MCs. Finally, thank you to all our families and friends that supported the concert by attending.

College Choir - Christmas Carols Excursion - Tuesday 18th December

This year the College Choir has been invited to sing Christmas Carols at Bunnings Warehouse, Altona. Over the last couple of years, Bunnings has made a number of very generous donations to our school and this will be one way to

show our appreciation. The excursion will also be another great opportunity for students to represent their school and

perform in the local community. Students will depart by bus at 9.15am and will return to school at 12.15pm.

Students will need to bring a morning snack in a disposable bag and a water bottle. Dress is neat school uniform. Santa hats will be provided although students are welcome to bring their own if preferred. There is no cost

for this excursion.

The permission note was due today. If you have not already returned the note, please return it by Mon-

day 17 December!

Keyboard Evolution Competition Winners – Round 2 Once again, our Year 7 students were successful in another round of Keyboard Evolution competitions run by MusicEDU.

This is the company that has produced the Year 7 music textbook introduced by the school this year. Two video recorded items were submitted: a whole class performance by Year 7A and a small ensemble performance featuring Caitlin Lorigan,

Stephanie Atzis, Bora Ulker and Heng Sun. For the whole class item we won a high performance Casio digital piano, and for

the small ensemble item, individual students each received a Casio Baby G or G Shock watch. Congratulations to our lucky competition winners and we look forward to seeing more students enter in 2013!

Students from 7A perform ‘Viva La Vida’ by Cold Play Year 7 Small Ensemble Performance

Back row: Heng Sun, Stephanie Atzis

Front row: Bora Ulker, Caitlin Lorigan

Connections Group 6.

Thankyou to all students and staff that supported the cupcake drive.

The total amount raised for the Royal Children's Hospital was

$38.80

Interested in playing outdoor soccer in 2013? Altona City Soccer club caters for all, boys, girls, women and men of all age groups. It welcomes all to come and try before joining. It all recommences in late January 2013. Keep an eye out on our website for more information www.altonacitysoccerclub.com.au or call 9398 3974

Xmas in the Food Tech Room Students have been putting a twist on traditional trifle to make it into a Christmas trifle. The recipe

is below

Ingredients: 1 pkt strawberry flavoured jelly*

1 pkt lime jelly

3 cups milk

3 tbsp custard powder

3 tbsp sugar

300 ml cream, whipped

½ punnet strawberries, washed, hulled & halved

1 small can(425g) sliced peaches

½-1 swiss roll

½ cup juice from the canned peaches juice

Method: Prepare jelly as per packet instructions and refrigerate.

Prepare custard as per instructions using the custard powder, sugar and milk.

Refrigerate.

Whip cream and refrigerate.

When ready to assemble, drain the peaches but reserve the syrup.

Slice the swiss roll and lay in the bottom of the bowl.

Sprinkle over with the peach syrup.

Lay ingredients in the following order: Green jelly, half of the custard, half the

peaches, red jelly, custard, more peaches and then cream.

Smooth the cream out and decorate the top with the hulled and sliced strawber-

ries.

Happy Cooking over the holidays

Mary Borracci

Christmas trifle recipe

Sue from Techxellent Training came out and taught us how to program the robot.

We decorated it and programmed dance moves

into the robot.

Then we had a “dance-off”. Liam and Jordan won the competition. Thankyou to Mobil for

helping with the funding.

HEADLICE REPORTS HAVE BEEN MADE IN Grades 3,@ 4 areas

Could ALL families please check their

child's hair for lice or eggs. Please keep checking your child’s hair during the holiday break. Thankyou.

School Dresses &

Skirts.

Dear Families,

Our wonderful time help

volunteer Isabelle has of-

fered to adjust the hems on

our school dresses, winter

skirts and tunics for the

small price of $10 per hem.

If you would like to arrange for your child's hem

to be altered please phone Wendy or Kim at the

school office on 9250.8050.

FUNDRAISING NEWS;

Donations are now being excepted for the Christmas raffle. If you would

like to donate an item to the hamper raffle please leave at the office.

All families have received a book of raffle tickets, raffle will drawn at the

end of year assembly on Thursday 20th December. Please return all

Tickets and money on Wednesday 19th December.

Fundraising Team