As we approach the final few weeks of Term, I remind parents of our upcoming parent teacher interviews for students in Year 7 – 11, on Thursday 8^th September. The program is face to face on the school grounds from 10:30am – 3:30pm. The afternoon/evening session is online from 4:30pm – 6:30pm. These events are an opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers and discuss their progress and areas for improvement.

Our Year 12 students have the GAT assessment on Wednesday, 7^th September. We wish them the very best. The next few weeks will no doubt be exceptionally busy with the completion of final school assessed tasks. Most students will soon turn their attention to exam preparation. Compulsory trial exams will be running during the Term 3 break for VCE students. Due to the pending commencement of major works at the College, these exams will be held in the ECA and Year 11 VCE area. Please remind your child to check the trial exam roster. The coming months are a critical study time, so I encourage parents and guardians to provide some quiet space at home for senior students. Plenty of sleep, healthy eating and some regular exercise should be incorporated into the study program in the lead up and during the final exams. We are proud of our senior students’ efforts this year and encourage them to put their best foot forward in terms of effort and commitment over the final few months of their secondary school experience.

ARC3 has been appointed as the construction company to complete the capital works at the college over the next 15 months. The scheduled start date is 13^th September. We are excited to have the project finally commence after significant delays due to the current environment of staff shortages and supply chain issues. Please encourage your child to have patience and understanding when moving around the college during the construction period as some major thoroughfares will be significantly impacted.

Last week it was our pleasure to meet our Year 7 students and families of 2023. I had a number of conversations with many parents, before, during and after the official proceedings. No doubt it’s a big milestone moving from primary to secondary and we are excited to make this transition as seamless as feasible. We welcome our new families to Rosehill Secondary College, in addition to all the families who have another sibling joining our community. Thank you to Ms Riquelme, Mr Derks and Ms Boadle who form our Junior School team and are overseen by our Assistant Principal Frances Snow. Together with Mr Cogan they did a tremendous job of organising, running, and presenting at the transition night.

I also take this opportunity to wish Mr Hosking and the Year 10 team and students all the best for the upcoming camp to Tasmania. As mentioned in previous editions, we are committed to providing as many quality opportunities as possible to our students and families. These events require a significant amount of work and effort to plan and deliver. Our teachers are giving up their own time to attend. Such opportunities are becoming more difficult to deliver, and with the new working conditions recently introduced, they may only be feasible due to the goodwill of our staff. Please take the time to thank our staff for all that they do.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to congratulate all the staff at Rosehill Secondary College for their tremendous work over the past couple of years. Our NAPLAN data for 2022 is extremely positive, despite the significant disruptions to learning over the past 2-3 years; our teachers and education support staff have not wavered from their commitment to working for all students. Our enrichment and enhancement programs, STEP, RAMP and REAP, together with our support programs such as MYLNS, tutoring and reading and writing programs, to name a few, have proven to be very effective and well worth the effort.

A brief snapshot of the improvement since 2019.

Year 9 Reading

• Students in the Top 2 Bands has increased by 150%
• Students in the Bottom 2 Bands has improved by 50%

Year 9 Writing

• Students in the Top 2 Bands has increased by over 300%
• Students in the Bottom 2 Bands has improved by just under 50%

Year 9 Numeracy

• Students in the Top 2 Bands has increased by just under 10%
• Students in the Bottom 2 Bands has improved by 10%

It is so pleasing to see our college is well ahead for these measures when compared to schools in the rest of the State, Similar schools, and the Moonee Valley Network schools.

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.

On Thursday 25th August, two of our ex-STEP students and star graduates from 2021, Nikala Bervanakis and Ojas Bhardwaj, came to Rosehill to speak to the current STEP cohort.

They spoke of their experiences in STEP, the obstacles they faced, tips for getting through the difficult times and future pathways.

Nikala and Ojas graduated with stellar scores and are both studying impressive courses at Latrobe University.

It was wonderful to see them and hear of their positive experiences at Rosehill Secondary College and beyond.

Stephanie Barbaro

STUDENT ENRICHMENT LEADER

Brodie’s Law: Damian and Rae Panlock’s presentation to VCAL students about the law named after their daughter.

Bullying is happening everywhere from the school grounds, the workplace and even at home. Around the world, alarming statistics are being collated on the impact and prevalence of bullying.

Cyber bullying is more prevalent today due to mobile phones and the Internet. Approximately 94% of 16 and 17 year-olds now own a phone. About 42% of youth with access to technology report that they have been cyber bullied.

Workplace bullying is another serious issue that continues to adversely impact many workers and organisations throughout Australia.

We were surprised to learn that this specific type of bullying costs the Australian economy up to $36 billion dollars a year, that 6.8% of Australians have directly experienced bullying in their workplace and more importantly, 7% of all suicides have been linked to workplace bullying.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young Australians and accounts for the deaths of more young people than car accidents.

Teenage suicide is the topic about which our guest speakers, Damian, and Rae Panlock from the Brodie’s Law FOUNDATION* addressed students in their powerful presentation. Their beautiful, vibrant, and only daughter Brodie who had a tender, compassionate heart, was subjected to malicious and persistent workplace bullying at the Hawthorn café she worked at for a year. She was held down by two male employees, while others poured sauces and beer on her hair and clothes. She was spat at and called ugly names. The manager of the Café, would turn a blind eye to the situation, telling the male employees to take “it outside”. Sadly, Brodie felt that the only way she had to deal with this bullying was to commit suicide. Surprisingly, her tormentors were only fined ($335,000) for their part in her bullying under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. At that time, this was the only option of prosecution for bullying available. In 2011, Brodie’s parents successfully lobbied the Victorian Government to make changes to the law to include serious bullying as an offence punishable by imprisonment. The Crimes Act 1958 was amended to include serious bullying as a crime carrying a maximum penalty of ten years. This bill is now known as, “Brodie’s Law.”

As Rae told us her story, the students were all transfixed with her every word.

Suicide is final, there is no going back; Damian and Rae wake up every morning thinking they had a nightmare, but their reality is all too real. Their tears for their daughter are ever-present.

*Damian and Rae established the Foundation after their daughter’s suicide in 2006.

Vicki Handris

VCAL COORDINATOR

Presentation Reflection from Students:

The presentation given from Brodie’s parents was very moving and heartfelt. It took a great amount of courage for them to come and speak in front of a group of students about Brodie’s situation and what their family have experienced. They pushed for years to have Brodie’s Law pass through the courts, and by doing so have allowed people the opportunity to communicate their struggles and speak up about workplace bullying. Through this presentation we were given a voice and were comforted to know that we’re not alone if this situation arises in our lives and we have people around us to speak to about our issues. We were fortunate enough to talk to Brodie’s parents privately, we just wanted to hug them, as they were such kind and caring people and made us comfortable talking about their experience. Having more of these presentations provides us with the opportunity to learn how to stand up for ourselves and to know that we always have support from others and that we’re not alone.

- Roisin Kerr, Ashlyn Dunford & Ana Tasevska