In recent weeks, together with representatives from the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA), we interviewed and appointed 3iD Studios as the successful architect for the new $10.204 million Capital Building Works. I look forward to working with Mike Nowson and his team in creating new and purpose built teaching and learning spaces for our students and staff. We now move into phase two of the process called AMP2 which involves the preliminary planning, design and space allocation of the new facilities. The proposed works will focus on C wing, A wing and the music department. This exciting aspect of our school upgrade will further enhance our school’s facilities and contribute to the high-quality education we deliver at Rosehill Secondary College for our community.

Our Open Day and Evening have been a great success over the past two weeks, and I would like to thank all the staff and students who assisted with these key events, promoting and showcasing the excellent work we do at Rosehill Secondary College. Our school captains in Nikala and Emily hosted the Open Night and spoke with passion and fond memories of their time when they first started at Rosehill and their journey into Year 12.

The annual report was presented to School Council at the Annual General Meeting held on 26th April. It was approved and is now available on the school Website.

As a lead school providing and delivering the School Wide Positive Behaviours (SWBPS) Program with fidelity, our team has been offered the opportunity to present our journey and to share and discuss how these practices have shaped student outcomes at the State-Wide Principal conference in June. I would like to acknowledge the work of William Stubbings who is the driver of this program and Kerry McKay, the Assistant Principal who oversees the work. In addition, the entire SWPBS team (Gladys Mora, Arthur Soumalias, Frances Snow, Chris Cogan, Daniel Wallace, Matt Hosking, Dora Bouras, Caitlin Kennedy, Melissa Chapman, Danielle Murray, Beth Cook and Madalynne Herbert) at Rosehill has contributed to make the program what it is today from its original beginning back in 2013, with a vision set by the head of the Junior School at the time, Ann Russell.

Congratulations to our School Captain, Emily Baker who has once again been offered a role as Principal Vocalist at this year’s State School Spectacular. Well done Emily, we are very proud of your great artistic efforts and your role as an ambassador for performing arts!

I would also like to congratulate Nikala Bervanakis for her recognition as an inaugural winner of the Spirit of Democracy Writing competition from last year. Nikala was fortunate enough to win a trip to Greece, which had to be postponed in the hope of travel this year. Unfortunately, that reward is still not feasible however, Nikala has been acknowledged and provided with a letter of congratulations from Minister Merlino as well as a compilation of the successful essays.

Finally, congratulations to four current Year 8 students who entered the East Keilor Rotary Covid Writing competition last year / as Year 7 students at the time, they were able to secure four of the nine top placings in the Year 7 and 8 category. In first place was Jeremey Bromley, second place Stephnie Perera Gunawardane and Hamza Petro and Isobel Robertson received high recommendations. They will be presented with their significant prize money award on 24th May.

Arthur Soumalias

PRINCIPAL

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 7 and 9 students will be held in week 4 of this term. The NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy and will take place as follows:

Tuesday 11^th May – Period 1 Language Conventions + Period 3 Writing

Wednesday 12^th May – Period 1 Reading

Thursday 13^th May – Period 1 Numeracy (a calculator is required)

Parents will receive a report on their child’s achievement in each assessed area later in the year. In addition to this, to celebrate students who achieve the highest level and those who excel by making exceptional progress, irrespective of where they start, this year's NAPLAN will also be awarding Certificates of Achievement to Year 9 students who:

• Achieve a result in Reading and/or Numeracy that places them in the very top band of NAPLAN.

• Significantly improve on their Year 7 results.

For more information about the tests, please visit the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au or the NAPLAN website at www.nap.edu.au

USING PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Please remember that students travelling to and from school by bus or train must have an in-credit MYKI card with them and must tap on for each journey. I have been contacted by our local Public Transport Officer about students failing to do this and the potential of a fine (over $80 for a child). I am certain that no parent will want to receive notification of a fine in the mail, so encourage you to discuss this with your child and ensure they are using their MYKI passes correctly.

Frances Snow

Assistant Principal

Yooralla Victoria is a disability services and support organisation. They reach out to people of all ages with disabilities in Victoria and help them get the support they need for their daily lives. During the 5-day-lockdown the Year 9’s attended a Zoom call with Jeanette Lee and Peter Johnstone from Yooralla, to hear about the important work that Yooralla does. Jeanette is a Customer Rights and Empowerment Practitioner at Yooralla and her job is to help those with disabilities to have the confidence to speak up about accessibility and treatment in the workplace. Peter is a volunteer who lives in a Yooralla community where he receives the help he requires for day to day living. Jeanette has also benefited from Yooralla and their services. They are both giving back to the community and doing what they can to spread awareness about life and living with a disability.

Foodbank Victoria provides food relief to individuals and families experiencing hardship. They provide up to 16.7 million meals to people across the state each year. For the first time we introduced a new addition to our traditional ROSEFEST - a food drive for Foodbank Victoria. A group of Year 9 students collected staple foods that people need like cans and pasta and distributed it to those in need. Prior to Rosefest, our school was lucky enough to be visited by a representative from Foodbank Victoria, Renee Maher who is their Event Coordinator. She spoke to the Year 9 students about the important work that is done at Foodbank Victoria and encouraged them all to donate food to Foodbank!

The 2021 Mini Rosefest Carnival ran smoothly with wonderful stalls selling a range of food from muffins and donuts to mini pancakes and sausages. The lines and crowds filled the area, you had to be careful not to get lost in the sea of people. The line for the BBQ stretched on for ages, being one of the most popular stalls. The music department provided lots of great music and drew a great crowd as people gathered to watch their friends perform, and enjoy the tunes.

We asked some of the students for their thoughts on this year’s Rosefest.

“It’s really fun” - Year 7 student

“It’s good, it’s a really good event to have at the start of the year” - Year 7 student

A few Year 7’s said that “the popcorn was buttery”, “the brownies were delicious” and “the pancakes were unique”.

A Year 9 student running one of the stalls stated that “It was ridiculously stressful, however it was a rewarding experience.”

By changing things up this year and having the event between B and C blocks, we created a more inclusive event. A common consensus from those who had experienced past Rosefests, was that this year's Rosefest was really different because the program had changed so that there were now four classes doing food stalls, four classes running the food drive and another class organising promotion and advertisement.

A special thank you to the Year 9 cohort for organising and preparing for the festival and to the music department for providing the live music.

We would also like to thank the following for their sponsorship of the 2021 Rosefest:

• Coles Avondale Heights
• Hoffman Cellars
• Woolworths at Milleara Mall

and the greater Rosehill Community.

Written by the 2021 Rosefest Promotion team [Jasmine, Emily Turner, Charlotte Collett, Lily Beck and Ms Viglione]

Some of the Year 9 students were also involved in creating the advertising of this event.

Shortlisted artists go into the running for a total cash prize pool of $500.00, with winners announced on Friday 7th May at the Exhibition Opening Night.

The biennial prize is a unique collaboration between Victoria University, Maribyrnong City Council, Footscray Community Arts Centre, and the Rotary Club of Footscray, who share a commitment to demonstrating and promoting creativity, cultural achievements, and the arts.

Congratulations to: Alastair Bonanno-Clark, Deniz Cavdar, Anastacia Calleja, Gillian Poparisut and Alana Shrubshall.

https://www.footscrayartprize.com/

On 24th March, Year 9 students of Japanese used Google Meet to communicate with students from our sister school in Japan, Kogakkan High School. This time, students from Kogakkan High School prepared presentations in English to introduce their local products and sightseeing areas where we usually visit during out trip to Japan. Students learn't more about our sister school and their hometowns.

Students enjoyed conversing in both English and Japanese.

We hope to organise more sessions.

Takanori HAYAKAWA

LANGUAGES LEADER

We were fortunate to have our federal, state and local representatives address all Year 10's. Hon. Bill Shorten MP, through his video address, as well as State Minister Ben Carroll MP, Mayor Cr Cam Nation and Deputy Mayor Cr Katrina Hodgson spoke about their roles, the issues of greatest concern for young people, and ways they considered most effective for students to make a difference.

Towards the end of the unit, our Active Citizens project involved students forming ‘political parties’ within their classes, and preparing a ‘campaign for change’. Eight ‘preselected’ parties contested a final ballot, with all Year 10s voting for the most effective campaign. The preferential system was explained to students and used to determine the winners, the ‘Australian Survivors Party’, who called for greater awareness of, and support for victims of family violence.

The Active Citizens program was a success because of the enthusiasm with which both students and staff embraced the learning opportunities. We now have a better understanding that, along with the many rights we have in Australia, there come responsibilities. Rosehill’s Year 10s have greater confidence to engage with our democratic system, and to have their voices heard.

Danielle Murray

HUMANITIES LEADER

A free opportunity for all students

The VSSEC Radio Telescope is now available to all students in government secondary schools in Victoria.

Take complete control of the telescope to view objects of your choice.

Work by yourself, with a group of friends, or your entire class.

This is the only radio telescope in the world exclusively for school students.

And it’s free to use!

Operate the telescope from your own home after school and at weekends.

Radio telescopes work day and night and can see through cloudy skies so time and weather don’t matter.

Use the telescope to reveal the hydrogen in space, invisible to human eyes.

View hydrogen clouds (nebulas) in the Milky Way Galaxy, remnants of supernovas (exploding stars) and the centre of the Milky Way.

VSSEC astronomers are here to help.

More information is here on the VSSEC website.

Or contact Ian Christie at VSSEC

ian.christie@vssec.vic.edu.au

This program is part of the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series, a new series of FREE high-quality, extension activities for Victorian students.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As you will be aware, in recent months significant and important discussions surrounding the issues of gender-based violence, sexual assault and consent have been taking place in the mainstream media, on social media, in schools, in homes, in parliament and in the community at large.

As a school we are committed to implementing the Department of Education’s Respectful Relationships program, which aims to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours and teach children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. This program was developed in response to the 2015 Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.

As part of our commitment to Respectful Relationships, and to support parents and guardians as they navigate these complex matters with their children, we invite you to attend a special parent webinar on Wednesday 5^th May, 7:00 – 8:00 pm, led by leading education provider Elephant Ed*.

The webinar will run via the Zoom platform and you must register in advance to attend the webinar (details below). The webinar will include the following key discussion points:

• Statistics and prevalence of sexual assault

• Legalities surrounding consent

• Avenues to seek help

• Strategies to start the conversation at home

To register in advance for this webinar, click on the link below and follow the prompts. Please note that this webinar is intended for parents/guardians rather than our student population. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mrELa_UmRSea9C25ws5UXQ

We look forward to seeing you online!

Regards,
Frances Snow

*Elephant Ed is a leading sexuality education provider to hundreds of schools around Australia. Elephant Ed's workshops are evidence-based, age-appropriate and mapped to State and National curriculum guidelines. Elephant Ed is endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.

Webex Login details 2021 Annual Round Briefing

Parents/Caregivers who are eligible are able to submit an application form for CSEF for 2022. You can obtain an application via the Departments website or directly from the College. Any queries can be directed to the General Office.

Jacinta Catoggio

ACCOUNTS

Sale date Thursday 6^th of May & Friday 7^th May 2021

This offer is valid Instore and Online

This is a great opportunity for families, to take advantage of schools uniform once again at a discounted price!