We are just past the midpoint of the term, so this is an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the year has progressed to this point. Sometimes we get caught up in doing that we forget to stop and appreciate all that’s been achieved. What have been the successes for your child?

I take this opportunity to remind parents/guardians that interim reports will be available in Week 8, the week of March 20. This will provide an insight as to how your child has commenced the year and will also serve as a conversation starter for student parent teacher interviews scheduled for April 4. This day will be a hybrid model with onsite face to face interviews during the day and online interviews in the evening. Further details to be provided closer to the day.

NAPLAN testing commences next week for students in Year 7 and 9. All NAPLAN testing is online, and our IT team and staff have been working with students to ensure individual devices are properly set up to enable access to the testing.

On Monday March 6 it was terrific to have the Hon Ben Carroll MP, the Moonee Valley Mayor Cr Pierce Tyson and Deputy Mayor Cr Samantha Byrne attend and support our Year 10 Civic and Citizenship program. They spent a good part of an hour talking to and answering student questions and discussing issues relevant to our community and society. We thank our guests for their valuable time to help provide a better understand the different levels of government in Australia. I also take this opportunity to again acknowledge the ongoing support of our local state member the Hon Ben Carroll. As a key driver of school improvement in our local area Ben has been instrumental in the current redevelopment of our college buildings and school grounds.

This term we have also completed 2 lockdown drills and one evacuation drill as required to order to meet our OH&S requirements. It is pleasing to report that all drills have been successful and have provided useful feedback to further enhance our systems and processes. Thank you to our Assistant Principal who oversees OH& S, Mr Connors, for organising and running these drills.

The swimming carnival was a great success. It is very pleasing to have the entire school at one event. The atmosphere on the day was very positive and so many children had a great day participating in events/activities or simply cheering their friends and house team. I would like to acknowledge Mr Furneaux and Mr Cole who did a tremendous job in organising and coordinating the event.

March 8 was International Women’s Day. We sent a small team of women leaders to a morning breakfast at Moonee Valley Council. Well done to Madalynne Lyons School captain, Maria Sovolos student leader, and our teacher in charge of student engagement, Coleen Hart in representing our college with aplomb.

I am posting the school RIL matrix again and encourage parents/guardians to be familiar with our school values and the behaviours we expect from our community. I encourage you to discuss what these behaviours look like for your child in the different settings. I bring to your attention the ONLINE column and setting. This is a space that is ever changing and following on from our guest speaker, in Suzan Mclean, all parents/guardians need to make it their business to know what our children are doing and how they are behaving in this zone. If you haven’t done so, please access her resources available online https://www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au/top-tips/

Regards,

Arthur Soumalias

PRINCIPAL

School Policies have been updated in line with Department of Education and Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority requirements. Parents may review these on the school websitehttps://www.rosehillsc.vic.edu.au/under Our School > Policies > Minimum Standards Compliance – June 2022.

Our Year 11 VCE VM class organised and hosted the BBQ stall at our swimming carnival. The eager VCE VM students, were involved the entire day in various tasks starting with helping Mr Raiti load the trailer with drinks, organising the marquees, and the Barbeque sets. They then helped teachers cook the meat, serve the hungry customers, stock the drinks, and clean our area. The money we raised on the day just over-$1100- will support our fundraising for The Salvation Army and subsidise our incursions and excursions for term 2.

A special mention to all the regular tireless teachers who supported us throughout the entire day: Mr Raiti, Ms O’Malley, Ms Mortellaro, Mr Pavlidis, Ms Filippone, Ms Georgiadis and Ms Zivcic. A very special mention to our parent helper, Mr Ahmet Karabay, who not only supplied us with 20 kilos of Halal sausages but cooked them too. Ahmet’s son is in Year 12 this year, and Ahmet has been donating his time, sausages and (even purchased a BBQ for us) since his son started in Year 7. He has been a part of our team for all these years, but sadly this will be his last. Thank you again Ahmet.

Ms Vicki Handris

VCE VM COORDINATOR

On Wednesday March 8, Ms Hart and Ms Riquelme had the pleasure of attending the International Women’s Day Breakfast the 12^th Annual Mayoral Breakfast, with Rosehill School Captain, Madelynne Lyons, and Year 12 Student leader Maria Sovolos. Both students represented our Rosehill community with pride and in the words of the past president of East Keilor Rotary: “It was a pleasure to meet you and Sue and the two wonderful students at the IWD Breakfast this morning. It is always a great occasion, but I enjoyed this one immensely because of the warmth of you, your colleague, and your students. Needless to say, Ms. Riquelme and I were very proud of our student leaders.

IWD is a day to celebrate the achievements and women, while at the same time acknowledging the need to continue to advocate for gender equality and parity. The focus this year was gender equity in the digital space: DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Parity. The amazing panellists included: Michaela Muscat – participated in the STEM curriculum and NASA Coding Program for woman, Natalie Moore; creator of digital membership and online community – Women Thriving Together, Row Murray – presenter & producer of Radio 3RRR’s Byte into IT show, and Shervie Maramot – Product Analyst for Allen’s Legal Product Lab.

It was wonderful to listen to these inspirational women, and Madelynne and Maria also got to speak to Mayor Cr Pierce Tyson, the Deputy Mayor Cr Samantha Byrne, and the wonderful Dee Tyson (the mayor’s mother) who was a trailblazer in the mines in the ‘80s and was the first woman to drive the trucks in the mines.

We congratulate our leaders, Madelynne & Maria, who were excellent ambassadors for Rosehill Secondary College, and we look forward to all of our leaders and students making their mark in the future.

#Embrace Equity

Colleen Hart

LEADING TEACHER

STUDENT AGENCY & LEADERSHIP/ENGLISH & ITALIAN TEACHER

For International Women’s Day, Maria Sovolos (Student Leader) and myself got to experience an amazing opportunity to get involved with the community of Moonee Valley, at the Clocktower Centre on Mount Alexander Road.

It was an early start to the morning with a lovely buffet breakfast and discussions amongst different schools, and leaderships. We got to experience a chance to meet Deputy Mayor Cr Samantha Byrne and Mayor Cr Pierce Tyson.

This was a great way to make connections within the community and hear about all the strong women and their stories of empowerment that were guest speakers. Micaela Muscat, Natalie Moore, Row Murray and Shervie Maramot, with an especially important guest Mayor Cr Pierce Tyson’s mother Dee.

She was the first women ever to be allowed to work on the gold mines. Growing up with the challenges she faced with working in a male dominant industry. She went above and beyond to achieve her goals and was an inspiration to all of us there.

Overall, the morning was an uplifting and empowering event. We are both very grateful and hope to inspire all women at Rosehill to be like the women from the event. We would like to give a huge thank you to Ms Hart who gave us the opportunity to attend.

Madelynne Lyons

SCHOOL CAPTAIN

Thank you for arranging the ‘Growing up Online Cyber Safety session with Susan McLean on Thursday night. Susan shared her wealth of knowledge and experience with a clear and concise presentation providing us with all of the required information to help keep our kids safe online. I found some of the presentation difficult to listen to, but absolutely necessary in today's society. I implore all parents who were unable to attend, to visit Susan's Facebook page and watch her videos. I thought I was all over it after my own research. I was not. My eyes are now fully open.

Warm regards,

Shireen Quirk

Year 7 parent

For further information on Cyber Safety visit Susan Mc Lean’s website Cyber Safety.

https://www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au/

A group of students from our sister-school, Kogakkan High School, Japan, will visit Rosehill from Wednesday 26 July until Saturday 5 August 2023. We extend an invitation to host a student to all members of the College community. Homestay is an important part of the visit by the Japanese students and will allow the students to experience living with an Australian family as well as studying at an Australian school.

• Japanese students are here to learn English so Japanese language skills are not required.
• You do not need to study Japanese to host a Kogakkan student.
• Host families will be paid $250 to contribute towards costs and weekend activities.
• Japanese students do not need their own room; they can share with your child.
• Weekend activities can be as simple as shopping with friends or watching your child’s sporting match on a Saturday.

Hosting is a rewarding experience for all involved and an opportunity to develop a life-long international friendship. If you are interested in hosting a student, please complete the Google form link here, https://forms.gle/KNB9GiH46MCdHCHs5 by Tuesday March 29th.

If you require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thanking you in anticipation of your assistance.

Nellie Harbourd Takanori Hayakawa

KOGAKKAN EXCHANGE COORDINATOR LANGUAGES COORDINATOR

Students, parents, and teachers are all welcome to participate in a very important enhancement program of our college throughout 2023.

When: Tuesdays – a whole school tuition program in the sub- library from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

Students will be able to receive the assistance they require in the completion of their work each Tuesday afternoon consistently across the year.

This enhancement and enrichment program has proven to be very successful in assisting students of all year levels in completing their homework and classwork. The improvement of literacy and numeracy skills has been an important priority for students attending, as well as the development of their study techniques in preparation for class assessments and exams.

Teachers from key learning areas and senior students who have volunteered their time and assistance, will be available to cater to student needs on a weekly basis. This program is easily accessible to students, has no cost incurred and is effective in improving study skills, results, and the confidence in students to work independently.

For further information regarding this enhancement program please contact Ms De Goederen on 9337 2488 or email: nina.degoederen@education.vic.gov.au

As part of the Year 9 program at Rosehill Secondary College, students participate in an Interdisciplinary Studies subject. This term students have been investigating the concept of ’My Community’. As part of their assessment, the students will organise an out of uniform day ( gold coin donation required), food drives, food and activity stalls (our annual college carnival). This will be held on Wednesday 29^th March during lunchtime. Live entertainment by our Music Department will be a feature of this day.

The proceeds from this event will help support Foodbank Victoria, The Salvation Army and Yooralla Victoria. We would greatly appreciate your assistance by donating goods to the college by Monday 3rd April. The following is a guide of what you can donate to Foodbank Victoria:

Thanking you in advance for your help.

Marissa Aquilina

YEAR 9 INTERDISCIPLINARY LEADER

If you walk into any English or Literacy classroom during the first 20 minutes of the lesson, you will see students spread across the classroom reading different books. The books, selected by students based on what they want to read, are not assigned by the curriculum. These 20 minutes spent reading for pleasure is not connected to any assignment or assessment. Instead, I would argue that it is fundamentally important to students’ future success.

At Rosehill Secondary College, we value the importance of reading for pleasure. For this reason, we have spent a great deal of time and effort in creating and implementing a positive school wide reading program. Each student selects a text of choice, and spends time in each English and Literacy lesson reading. Students read for a sustained period of time a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. This builds students’ abilities to stay immersed in texts for greater periods of time, and so improving their vocabulary and comprehension. Wide reading also enables understanding of different perspectives and situations, and helps expand their ideas, to think in different ways and to reflect more deeply.

We, (parents, guardians, carers and teachers) want our children to be life-long readers and learners who read widely, think deeply, make informed decisions and gain a wider understanding of the world around them.

‘Students who read widely do better academically, as it introduces them to lots more vocabulary and also supports and engages their imagination.’ - Foundation for Learning of Literacy, 2023

Variation in amount of independent reading

Anderson, R., Wilson, P. & Fielding, L., Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 3, 1988

“Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school.”

But getting teenagers to buy into reading for pleasure can be a challenge.

Educational researchers Kylene Beers and Robery Probst ask in their text, ‘Disrupting Thinking (2017)’: “why shouldn’t they [children] be?” Reading competes with social media, video games, extra-curricular activities and more. The factors contributing to the world’s disenchantment with reading are strong and strengthening.

Research shows that students benefit from schools and families working together.

Parents and carers provide learning opportunities at home and in communities, creating connections between learning at school and learning outside of school. When schools and families work together, children can become more engaged with their school work, achieve better academically, stay in school longer and develop better social skills. Effective partnerships enrich wellbeing, achievement and engagement by focusing on student needs. (Victoria, Department of Education, 2023)

Reading is not only the responsibility of the school. There are many ways parents, carers and guardians can support their child in reading.

Supporting Readers

Read together.

Chat about books – share your own reading.

Visit the local library.

Let your child see you and other family members read for pleasure.

Establish reading rituals at home.

We would love to hear your thoughts, and any questions you have for us! We thank you for your continuous support in our wide reading program.

Katarina Ivas

LITERACY SPECIALIST

Tuition at Rosehill Secondary College 2023

Students, parents, and teachers are all welcome to participate in a very important enhancement program of our college throughout 2023.

When: Tuesdays – a whole school tuition program in the sub- library from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

Students will be able to receive the assistance they require in the completion of their work each Tuesday afternoon consistently across the year.

This enhancement and enrichment program has proven to be very successful in assisting students of all year levels in completing their homework and classwork. The improvement of literacy and numeracy skills has been an important priority for students attending, as well as the development of their study techniques in preparation for class assessments and exams.

Teachers from key learning areas and senior students who have volunteered their time and assistance, will be available to cater to student needs on a weekly basis. This program is easily accessible to students, has no cost incurred and is effective in improving study skills, results, and the confidence in students to work independently.

For further information regarding this enhancement program please contact Ms De Goederen on 9337 2488 or email: nina.degoederen@education.vic.gov.au