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Newsletter Mount Eliza Secondary College

Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza 3930 Tel: 9787 6288 Fax: 9787 9888

Email: info@mesc.vic.edu.au Internet www.mesc.vic.edu.au

Website http://www.mesc.vic.edu.au

Editors: Angela Pollard & Heather Hiam 19 December 2013 Volume 9 2013

This Newsletter is available in colour electronically on the College website and on the College intranet.

Dear Parents, Students, Teachers and Members of the Wider School Community,

This newsletter marks the end of another very busy year. The college has much to celebrate, as we have made enormous headway with our plans to refocus all decision making on meeting the needs of our students, and to work intensively with staff on the quality of their programs in the classroom.

It has been an extremely rewarding and interesting year for me, as I have become better acquainted with the students, and gained an appreciation of the dedication and commitment of the staff and families at the college.

This week, we have celebrated the successes of many students, recognising their achievements at Wednesday’s Awards Night Ceremony. This included academic recognition, as well as the recognition of achievements in the sporting, musical,

performing arts, leadership and community service areas.

This week also saw the publishing of students’ VCE results and we are extremely proud of the efforts of our students, and the teachers who have supported them. Our median VCE score has improved by a full score to 29, making us one of the highest performing government schools in the area. It is important to note that all that is published in the media is a list of various schools’ scores. A school that gets a high average score may be a great school, or it may simply be a school that enrols only high achieving students who may well have had that success regardless of the school they attended. Many schools also publish their top scores – the important question to ask is ‘how did everyone else do?’ The real test of success is the school that accepts all students into their programs and then assists their students to get a better score than expected. That is what we have achieved this year and it is something that should be celebrated!

At the Valedictory Awards Night, I also spoke to students and their families about success, and shared my belief that high scores are important if that is what you need to follow your dreams, but it is the personal qualities that in fact carry you through life. People will forget your VCE score very quickly, but they will always remember if you are kind, compassionate, generous and fair. Ultimately this is what employers will care about as well, as the most highly qualified person who cannot get along with others, or who lacks initiative or a sense of empathy, will not add value to an organisation. At MESC we focus on the development of these skills, and value them as part of our work with students.

I am very much looking forward to 2014. We have some teachers returning from leave, a newly selected leadership team, and a number of exciting new programs for our students. Our year 7 cohort, and many other students throughout the college, will be starting the school year on 30 January in the new college uniform, and over the break, work will be undertaken on the development of college facilities. Also from the beginning of next year every year level will have a dedicated learning space at the college, where they are closely supported by the Leading Teacher in charge of their year level, the coordinator and the team of mentors.

I would just like to mention that all families will receive a letter from me shortly regarding the expectations for the wearing of uniform in 2014. If you miss this, please go to the website to access this important information. Thank you all for your wonderful support in 2013. I wish you a safe and happy Christmas break, and look forward to working with you all in 2014.

Angela Pollard, Principal

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COMPASS We are excited to introduce a new service for families called ‘Compass’. This will become the primary means of communication between the school and home. Parents are able to login to Compass via the ’Compass Portal’ link located on the school website (www.mesc.vic.edu.au). Each family with up to date contact details has recently been sent a login to this new system. If you have not received a login, please contact the College. There are a number of parent modules available in Compass and the school will be introducing these over the next twelve months. Compass provides the school community with a range of facilities which will streamline communication and provide enhanced access to information. It will also improve many of the school’s administration processes. Parents will play an important role in this initiative. It will be important that parents log in consistently to ensure they are kept up to date with their child’s progress. It is also

essential that the Username and Password detailed below is kept in a safe place, and not made available to students. Compass is intended to be self-explanatory and easy to use, however if you require assistance please contact the College.

Library News Thank you to everyone who contributed to the ‘Books 4 Cambodia’ project which our library monitors were assisting with. Sarah, together with her brother and mum, collected 15 boxes of books from us- “Thank you for your contribution to “Books 4 Cambodia”. We greatly appreciate your donation of books to help us reach my goal of having 17,000-20,000 books by the end of December which we have almost reached! Many thanks, Sarah Berry” These holidays are a great time to access the “eBooks@MESC” platform (if you haven’t already tried it) where you will find a great selection of eBook fiction titles to cater for most age groups. This can be accessed via our MESC Library Website (http://mesclibrary.global2.vic.edu.au/ebooks/) where you will also find instructions to help you with this process – login is via your usual student/staff username and password. I would like to thank all the Year 7 Library Monitors who assisted this

year - Eloise Smith, Bethany Camillo, Tom McQuie, Amie Lawrence, Ella Whistlecroft, Ashleigh Harman, Brooke Edwards, Skye Edwards, Shelby Davies, Stacey Taylor. They have been a most diligent and helpful group of students who were keen to not only utilise the library (I suspect the bean bags were the main attraction for some!) but also to help in promoting the library to other students. Their work on displays, help with processing new books, general library tasks and overall enthusiasm has been fantastic. I very much enjoyed getting to know them and working with them throughout the year. Happy Holiday Reading Everyone!

Mrs Lynn Swannell, Librarian

1. Update email address and mobile phone number –upon logging in for the first time you will be prompted to update your details through the portal. The details listed will be used to send emails and SMS alerts. 2. News Feed – the school will post news to parents to remind you about events and activities at the school. Your news feed will be customised, showing only the information relevant to you and your children. 3. Attendance - view your child’s attendance online, approve absences, and indicate future absence. 4. Reports – New semester 2 reports will be available December 6th. You can also view your child’s previous reports as electronic PDF files. 5. Consent for end of year activities – As an introduction to Compass, we ask that you provide consent for the end of year activities. This function will be expanded in 2014 to also allow parents to pay online for excursions. 2014 1. Excursions – expanding on 2013 functionality, you will now be able to approve and pay online for your child’s participation in excursions and other special events. 2. Parent/Student/Teacher conferences - make appointments with teachers during parent/student/teacher conference periods. 3. Course Confirmation – confirm your child’s subjects, and make school fee payment, for the following year.

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Year 7 Academic Achievement Awards Year 8 Academic Achievement Awards

Finn BARDOLPH

Bethany BECSI

Isobel CANTRILL

Fynlay CIOBAN

Sophie COLVIN

Isabelle DUGGAN

Fern EDWARDS

Oliver FARNILL

Bella FENTON

Ashleigh HARMAN

Rebekka HARPER

Emma HENLEY

Chloe HINDMARSH

Alysha HUGHES

Heather MACKAY

William MCCALLUM

Keely MCKENZIE

Thomas MCQUIE

Tia RIDDLE

Jazmin SABETO

Hazelle SMITH

Megan TAYLOR-WILLIAMS

Ella WHISTLECROFT

Kirsty WILLIAMS

Eliza WILSON-MACDONALD

Mia WINNELL

Jessica

Tori

Hannah

Ebony

Madeleine

Piper

Jordan

Ryan

Oscar

Haniya

Kosta

Mikhali

Daniel

Stephanie

Jayda

Ella

Morgan

Amy

Elly

Emily

Natasha

Ruby-Anne

James

Sarah

Lili

Ella

Alexander

ADAMS

BERULDSEN

BLACKBURN

BORG

BRANTHWAITE

BYE

COLVIN

COPPARD

DAVIES

DJAFAR KHODJA

GIANNAKOPOULOS

GREEN

HOUSE

KAMBARBAKIS

MARTIN

MCKENZIE

MINCHIN

MOORE

SCHIFFER

TAYLOR-HARCOURT

THEODOROU

VANLOENEN

WHITEHEAD

WHYTE

WILLIAMS

WRIGHT

YOUNG

AWARDS EVENING 18 DECEMBER 2013

Jack AHERN

Rachel BECSI

Claire CAMPBELL

Jack CHRISTIE

Sarah CLARK

Louis COOKE

Thomas FARNILL

Chloe FIELD

Jordan FINLAY

Cahal FREESTONE

Amelia HARVEY

Deborah HILL

Ambre HOVENGA

Georgia JENKINS

Year 9 Academic Awards

Kooper LINGOHR

Connor MCLAUGHLIN

Sebnem O'HARA

Emily PHILLIPS

Omar RAONAQ

Brooke REID

Kyle SMALL

Sophie STRICKLAND

Jessica

VAN DER

LINDEN

Natalie VERMEULEN

Taylor WALKER

Damien WELLS

AWARDS EVENING 18 DECEMBER 2013

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YEAR 10 ACADEMIC AWARDS YEAR 11 ACADEMIC AWARDS

Isaac BEEBY

Louise BELLSMITH

Lily BENSON

Georgia CAMPBELL

Madeline COLLINGE

Jesse COLLINS

Emma DOUGLAS

Noah EBERT

Thomas EVANS

Ervin FAZEKAS

William FEATHERSTONE

Sonali GREEN

Claudia HINDMARSH

Hayley HISGROVE

Celina MACK

Indi-Lea MCLEAN

Kirra ROYAL

Jason STANFIELD

Lisa WEST

Amy WHYTE

Jackson ANWENDER

Alannah BAKER

Sarah BEARDMORE

Emma BROWN

Sam CANTRILL

Katelin CLIFFORD

Claudia COOKE

Gabrielle COPPARD

Sophie FEATHERSTONE

Anna GABRIELSON

Christopher KARELAS

Alannah LEWIS

Jake LOBB

Riley LONGWORTH

Jessi MARTIN

Madelaine MCCALL

Zac MCLAUGHLIN

Leela RAONAQ

Madeleine REVERE

Alexandra RICHARDSON

Ally ROBERTSON-SATCHELL

Jakob SCOBLE

Sophie STORM

Jemma VIAL

Kaydee WALKER

Brendan YOUNG

AWARDS EVENING 18 DECEMBER 2013

OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC ENDEAVOUR AWARD This Award is presented for outstanding participation and effort: Year 7 Heather Mackay Year 8 Stephanie Kambarbakis Year 9 Thomas Farnill Year 10 Louise Bellsmith Year 11 Leela Raonaq SPECIAL AWARDS- CO-ORDINATORS’ AWARDS Awarded for outstanding effort and participation Year 7 Ashleigh Harmon Year 8 Jessica Adams Year 9 Omar Raonaq Year 10 Leah Ferguson Year 11 Sarah Beardmore

OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD This Award is presented for outstanding excel-lence and achievement: Year 7 Emma Henley Year 8 Ryan Coppard Year 9 Deborah Hill Year 10 Celina Mack Year 11 Chris Karelas

PAT & LES BROOKS AWARD This Award is presented for outstanding contribution to the College Community. Year 7 Finlay Cioban Year 8 Sophia Beardmore

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AWARDS EVENING 18 DECEMBER 2013

SCHOOL COUNCIL AWARD This Award is presented for outstanding contribution to the College Community.

Year 9 Sophie Strickland

Year 10 Nick Carrick

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SPORT

Year 7 Sophie Van der Linden & Kade Mercieca

Year 8 Sophia Beardmore & Jules Ronchi-Banay

Year 9 Claire Copper & Remmie Bye

Year 10 Tanisha O’Brien & Nick Carrick

Year 11 Claire Woods & Nabil Mozaffaruddin

KWONG LEE DOW AWARD Alexandra Mallett

THE HELEN BROAD HISTORY PRIZE

Riley Longworth

DUX OF VCE 2013 Jared Smith

DUX OF VCAL 2013

James Colman

PROTEADS AWARD Nelson Felsinger

MR BRENT MONCRIEFF MEMORIAL DESIGN AWARD

James Francis

RON BARRON ACQUISITIVE ART AWARD Sam Brett

PiIERRE De COUBERTIN AWARD

Natasha Sharp

Stacey Hehl Cambell Edwards

Indi-Lea McLean Jason Stanfield

Keele James Max Foster-Swan

Perri Fagan Nathan DeSilva

Brooke Hardy Jack Campbell

Katelyn Christoforou Nick Carrick

Chelsea Sherry Matt Bates

Kirra Royal Nick Christoforou

Amy Marshall Lochie Gay

Celina Mack Becky Bellsmith

Alex Mallett Whitney Hutchinson

Emer Lynch Nicola Hayes

Amy Whyte Sunny Green

Leah Ferguson

Alannah Baker ( Peer Support Student Coordinator )

PEER SUPPORT LEADERS SCHOOL CAPTAINS 2014 YEAR 8 Eliza Wilson-McDonald, Fyn Cioban, Bella Fenton & Ryan Cooper YEAR 9 Sophia Beardmore, Oscar Leonard Fox, Ella Wright & Jordan Colvin YEAR 10 Mirra Kimpton, Tom Campbell, Ikeylia Dryfhout-Kokaua, Angus Christie YEAR 11 Celina Mack, Nick Carrick, Lizzie Gill & Lochie Gay VICE CAPTAIN James Beckett & Dominque Waight SCHOOL CAPTAIN Brendan Young & Sarah Jeanes

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Scouts Australia – Certificate of Achievement

The police cadets graduated with flying colours. The ceremony celebrated the successful partnership between Mt Eliza Secondary College and Victoria Police. The Graduation Ceremony gave the graduates the opportunity to show off their drill and dress skills. During the year, the participating students received tuition with regards to the role of the police force in the community. The students participated in the 2013 Mornington ANZAC Day parade, attended the Mount Eliza Remembrance Day and Legacy Memorial Services. The members of the graduating squad for 2013 are: Brady Stewart, Aaron Dowling, Jordan Lingohr, Ella Wright, Jayda Martin, Jessica Adams, Maddie Branthwaite, Ebony Borg, Blake Jarman, Harrison Sterling, Bree Tolley, Jason Walker, Danielle Lewis, Phillip Stock, Jessica Morley-Cupido, Ryan Baker and Eddy Fahler. The College would like to thank Assistant commissioner Doug Fryer, Superintendent Shayne Pannell, Inspector Mathew Mulchahy, Senior Sergeant Andrew Whitehead, Councillor Antonella Celi, the Honourable David Morris, Mrs Linda Morris, Leading Senior Constable Mick Mears and the Victoria Police Pipe Band for their contribution to the day

Maria Antoniou

Victorian Police Youth Corps Graduation

Following the conclusion of our involvement with the Scouts Australia ‘Our School Raffle 2013’ the College was presented with a Certificate of Achievement by Sonya Loader (Group Leader of the 1st Ranelagh Scout Group). The raffle has been a successful fundraiser for the past 2 years with funds being directed to student facilities. A number of our students both past and present have been involved in this and other scout groups over many years, with 2012 student Lucy Beckett recently receiving a ‘Queens Scout Award’. For further information regarding the First Ranelagh Scouts please contact Sonya Loader ph. 9775 3675.

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HPV TEAM MEMBERS

On Thursday 21st of November the Mt Eliza HPV team departed for our biggest race of the year; Maryborough 24 hour energy breakthrough. We had two teams, (Bite Me and She’s Well Fit ) entered into the senior secondary category so we were basically up against each other. Trailers packed, vehicles in and off we went on a 3 hour bus trip once we arrived we set up camp and put the finishing touches on the vehicles. We ventured into the town of Maryborough for a wander on our last night before all the race activities got started. Friday we got up bright an early and went off to scrutineering where the vehicles passed, although we had to go back because some of us forgot to bring our helmets. We then went on to design and construction and gave speeches as two different teams about our vehicles and how they were built. Each team then presented our display and presentation to the judges now the focus became the race. Practice was on at 7pm and ran for two hours this is each team’s chance to get a feel of the track, once this had finished we all went for our last full night’s sleep before things got hectic. We all had a nice relaxed and calm morning the race started at 1.30pm and Bite Me started 3rd on the grid and She’s Well Fit started 9th. Both teams had great starts and this continued throughout the day not too many crashes and each team member were killing it out on the track, six hours in both teams and we were sitting in the top 3 in our category. As the sun went down riders started heading to bed to get as much sleep as possible throughout the night each rider continued to push themselves to the limits for their team. In the early hours of the race on Sunday morning (2am) one of our riders was injured in a crash and the vehicle was slightly effected. While the St Johns Ambulance lady attended to our rider the vehicle (Bite Me) was quickly fixed. In this time the She’s Well Fit team were up there fighting for top spot against another team. Our injured rider then was catching up on some sleep after getting the all clear from the highly talkative paramedic. Each team continued to ride and the race went on, but then the race stopped due to an ill member of our team needing to be taken to hospital. Stopping a 24 hour HPV race is a great honour really our team member was in high spirits and did a great job and returned later that day. Throughout the morning one of our teams, She’s Well Fit was fighting against another team to finish first in our category. They fought their hardest and gave it their all and after the 24 hour marathon they finished in 2nd place, which is a fantastic result. Bite Me finished in 3rd place which is also a great result considering the significant damage sustained in the accident. We then all stayed on the Sunday night and played our Soccer game against the remaining schools on the oval. This race was the last race for many of our HPV favourites, Alika, Jarrod, Brandon and Nick have given a lot of time energy and dedication to this HPV team and will continue too. The family attitude they have brought to the team since joining will make them part of this team forever, we thank them for all the memories. This race also wouldn’t be possible without Mr Piper, his dedication, love and energy he puts into this HPV team is amazing. Ms Lockyer and Mrs Collard have also put in a lot of time and effort throughout the year to help us get to these races. Mel Rebbechi and Daniel Andjelic have given an astonishing amount of time to this team and the effort and dedication they have shown is incredible and we thank them for that. We thank Tom, Ross Young, Josh, Doug, Tony & Lian Gay, Matt McCallum, Linda and Harry, Maddie and Scarlett for their continued support that they put into this team.

By Sophie Strickland (Team member of Bite Me)

Maddy Collinge

Oscar Corden

Brandon Dowling

Noah Ebert

Lachlan Gay

Hayley Hisgrove

Jo Hodges

Alex Holden

Sean Mathews

Alika O'Brien

Tanisha O'Brien

Sophie Strickland

Alex Young

Jarrod Donahue

Paris Murray

Matt Vagg

Tom McQuie

Piieta Atkins

Will McCallum

Bethany Camillo

Nick Christoforou

Aaron Dowling

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SWIMMING WITH THE SEALS

Once again Year 7 students found their way to Portsea for the annual Swim with the Seals experience. Braving what looked to be a cooler day with a chance of rain, everyone turned up for the 9.30 start, safety talk and gear fitting. The fitting part of the session is always the funniest, with wet suits that hug and resist efforts to roll over legs and arms, there is lots of laughter as eventually zippers are slid into place and fins and masks sized for feet and faces. The weather was still looking ordinary as we marched down the pier to the waiting boats and climbed aboard. Ten minutes away at Pope’s Eye and the sun was out and the sea calm as we explored the rocks with a slack water tide. Our two meter depth fell away to twelve as we rounded the rocks and saw the sea floor so far below. Back on the boat and we headed to Chinaman’s Hat to see the seals. Again there was very little swell and almost no tide, so we

jumped in and splashed around in the open sea. The seals love splashing and diving, so when they saw us they decided to join in. Pretty soon we had about a dozen seals all swimming around and diving between us. Some sneak up and dart away, whilst others just cruse past slowly looking at us. Sometimes they swim straight at you and swerve at the last moment. The bay echoed with shouts and laughter. Soon it was back on the boats, a fast trip back to dock and hot showers and changing into day clothes. A great day and a fantastic experience. Well done to everybody. SCUBA CAMP 2013

SCUBA camp was once again run this year with students from year 9 and 10 attending a week away at Queenscliff Staying at the Dive Victoria Dive Lodge, students studied the theory of diving and managed to pass all the tests and the final exam. Practical activities in full SCUBA gear were run in the indoor pool before transferring out into the open water of Port Philip Bay. Students managed 5 dives, which were combinations of practicing and evaluating skills such as taking off and clearing masks, buddy breathing and emergency assents – and learning to relax underwater.

A couple of dives in the 12 meter area at Pope’s Eye were complimented by dives at “Boar Fish Reef” and “The Grotto” highlighting the unique and beautiful dive locations we have locally in the bay. One highlight was a dawn dive to catch the period between ebb and flood tides, slack water. The sun was barely up when we arrived on the dock to load gear onto the boat and we had the pleasure of watching the sunrise over Melbourne as we sat waiting for the tide to stop running. Certainly a memorable event. All students passed with flying colours despite some early nerves and everyone enjoyed the food and accommodation. We now have a brand new group of qualified Open Water Divers. Congratulations everyone.

SCHOOL IMMUNISATION PROGRAM FOR 2014 Round 1- 24/02/14 AT 9.00 am- Yr 7 HPV-dose 1 and Chicken pox ( all students) Yr 9 HPV-dose 1 ( boys only)

Round 2- 31/03/2014 at 9.00 am-Yr 10 Boostrix ( all students) Round 3- 19/05/2014 at 9.00 am-Yr 7 HPV- dose 2 Yr 9 HPV- dose 2 (boys only) Round 4 06/10/2014 at 9.00am-Yr 7 HPV-dose 3 Yr 9 HPV-dose 3 (boys only)

Students will be bringing vaccination permission forms home early in the new year. PLEASE RETURN THESE SIGNED CONSENT FORMS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If you have any queries about the vaccination program, please contact the school nurse.

Jill Stainforth ( School Nurse)

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PARENT VOLUNTEERS The Food & Technology department would love to get parents involved in helping in the kitchen during practical lessons in 2014. Mums, Dads and Grandparents if you would like to get involved and help out during our cooking lessons we would appreciate your assistance. Please email the Food & Technology co-ordinator Karyn Foran at kforan@mesc.vic.edu.au for further information.

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TERM DATES 2014

Term 1

STUDENTS RETURN 30 January – 4 April 2014

Term 2

22 April -27 June

Term 3

14 July - 19 September

Term 4

6 October - 19 December

“You can now follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out about upcoming events

at the College” http://twitter.com/mtelizasc

IMPORTANT DATES 2014

THURSDAY 30 JANUARY 2014 ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE COLLEGE FOR TERM 1 2014

Monday 10 February - 12 February 2014

Year 7 Camp—The Summit Adventure

**ABSENCE LINE**

STUDENT ABSENCE LINE PHONE NUMBER IS

9788 6290

Baxter Soccer Club Inc.

www.baxtersoccerclub.org.au Baxter Soccer Club is looking for players

Registration Day Sunday 9th February 2014 @

11:00am. Frankston – Flinders Rd, Baxter

Baxter Soccer Club is a family orientated club fielding both junior and senior teams. We have recently moved into our newly completed clubrooms giving us the best facilities on the Mornington Peninsula. We have-

Boys & Girls Teams Enjoy Grass Roots Football Small Sided Football to U11 Social functions for everyone to join in All skill levels welcome Everyone gets a go Dedicated female team room with showers

So if you looking to play please come down &

join in the fun. Registration enquiries: Kristina Chitty

0407 645 900 Email.registrar@baxtersoccerclub.org.au.