Newsletter Issue 12

2019 YEA HIGH SCHOOL

Racecourse Road, Yea 3717

P: 03 5797 2207 F: 03 5797 2931

E: yea.hs@edumail.vic.gov.au

W: www.yeahs.vic.edu.au

Play is the Way—Year 7 Leadership Session

Over the last 2 weeks Year 7’s have been busy learning about leadership and simple acts of kindness. Students have undertaken a 2hr leadership workshop run by Ms Miller as well as 4 sessions of ‘Play is the Way’ organised by the Adolescent Health Nurses Emma Sears and Steven Forrester. The key values of the program are centred around pursuing your personal best, participating to progress, treating others as you would like to be treated, having reasons for the things you say and do and being the master, not the victim of your feelings. Students comments: Bradley “I can be a good leader” Isabella “teamwork is all about people working together…” Kayla “it was a great way to interact and make new friends…” Bethany “you have to work together to achieve your goals despite indi-vidual differences”. Tom.”leadership is important and you can never have too many leaders.

TERM 2

Week 6 Monday 26th - Friday 30th August

Monday 26th Year 10 Creating Conversations

Monday 26th—27th METEC Driver Education

Thursday 29th Round Robin School Sports

Week 7 Monday 2nd - Friday 6th September

Tuesday 3rd Southern Rangers Athletics

Tuesday 3rd Yr12 Biology Excursion—GTAC

Wednesday 4th Year 12 Elevate Session

SEMESTER 2 NETBOOK INSTALLMENTS & BUS FEES ARE NOW DUE

Netbook payments for semester two are now due. If you are paying your netbook via in-stalments please make contact with the office . Bus Fees for semester two are also now

HEALTH WARNING:

IMPETIGO Yea High School has received a re-

port of a case of Impetigo. Please

be vigilant if your child presents with

any of the symptoms and seek med-

ical advice as it is highly contagious.

Children with impetigo should be

kept home from school or other

group settings if their wounds can-

not be kept covered until 24 hours

after antibiotic treatment has been

started, or until the blisters have

dried out. FURTHER INFORMATION

www2.health.vic.gov.au

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Student Attitude to school survey

The 2019 student attitudes to school survey data has been made available to the school. The data across all survey factors continues to be positive with significant improvement in student response to effective teaching time, stimulated learning and classroom behaviour. Students rate their teachers above 80% for having ‘High expectations for success’ with only 3% of students providing negative feedback in that area.

Professional Development Day

The staff professional development day, last Thursday 15th August, was a most productive and informative day. Staff were taken through elements of the Berry Street education model with a focus on student readiness to learn, mindfulness and self-regulation.

Sport Day

Thursday 29th August is the Term 3 sport round robin for Year 7-Year 10 students. As much as

possible, depending on staffing requirements for sport teams, VCE students will have regular

classes.

Term 3 Interim Reports

VCE Term 3 interim reports have been prepared and made available to students and families

through COMPASS. Year 7- Year 10 interim reports will be available before the last week of

Term 3. Term 3 parent-teacher interviews are scheduled for the last Thursday evening and Fri-

day of the term. More information and booking arrangements will be available on COMPASS in

the next two weeks.

Principal Endeavour Awards

The Principal Endeavour awards will be held on Thursday 5th September at the Yea Shire Hall

invitations to that ceremony have been posted to families of students who have won an award.

Working with Children

The Working with Children Act states that anyone engaged in ‘child-related work’ must have a

working with children’s check. This includes volunteers or a visitor who is supervised by a

teacher.

Asthma, Diabetes, Anaphylaxis, Epilepsy

The school is required to have student health and management plans for students with any of these conditions. These plans need to be updated yearly.

If emergency medication has been prescribed the school must hold an Emergency Medication Management Plan signed by a doctor and provided by the family.

Absenteeism

Thank you to the parents who respond to our student absence alerts. The school is working to ensure accurate student records.

Mr Brian D’Arcy

Mr Bruce Skewes

VCAL Garden and Seat

For a number of weeks VCAL have been working on a number of projects near the vegetable garden. Students, design and come up (planning and developing skills) with a project that they would like to build. They then employ a team to work with (leadership skills) and work on the project together (team building skills). Projects need to be completed in a timeframe (construction management skills).

Thank you and Nick have extended the garden with a three section herb patch, Luke and Ethan have constructed a beautiful bench seat and Josh and Josh have constructed a fabulous three bay compost spot. We have designs for a sculpture as well.

Removal of Ivy

VCAL students went to th Yea Wetlands to finish Ivy removal. The Wet-lands committee have been working on this project for three years now. Two students - Dylan Frase and Alarna Watson had met with Glenda for their Community Connections service project to grub out and lift ivy from the ground. (Photos to come) The students spent two afternoons with Glenda and removed an enormous amount of Ivy to a couple of huge mounds. Tha VCAL students in unison with Landcare then met to take the Ivy (which regrows easily) out of the Wetlands to be burnt. This task was another prime example of temwork and com-munity connection building.

Franklin Track Sign VCAL students as part of the Wetlands works they were undertaking erected the Franklin Track-Sign. The sign was erected using a handdrill..

Year 10 Home Eco BBQ

Year 10 Home eco students ventured out to the shopping precint of Yea. A visit to the local butchers, and a purchase of lamb, mint and rosemary sausages was made. Then we ventured up to the local supermarket Reddrop to purchase Quorn products - a vegetarian alternative to meat. We went to the park and cooked a BBQ to compare the products. Students have been work-ing on an assignment in regars to healthy eating, envitonmental impact of food and ongoing sustainability.

VCAL Team Building

Beanbag blindfold: The VCAL class went to the basketball court and were instructed to split into groups of three, blindfold one person in theIr group Whilst others hid a small beanbag. Each group had to lead the blind folded person to the beanbag without touch, only using verbal instructions. This task took a bit of time to get started as they were not listening to clear instruction which caused a few mistakes, which can be very frustrating.

Egg Toss: Students in pairs lined up in single file facing opposite to each other. Instructions were to throw the egg to your partner to catch. Eac Then after each successful throw one of the two was to take a step back to make it harder. This task we found was quicker to get started as it shared more interest within the class, but a lot longer to finish as the eggs took ages to crack.

Flip the tablecloth: Whole class stood on a plastic tablecloth and were instructed to work together to flip the tablecloth over to the other side. Sounds easy? Catch was that no-ones feet were allowed to touch the ground. It took a while and a few strategies but the students had success.

Team Building exercises for VCAL run by the senior students.

Central Australia Trip Summary

by Leilani Tresidder

On the morning of June 22, 2019, forty year 11s and 12s – alongside five evidently audacious teachers - embarked upon a journey into the heart of Central Australia. We travelled through the dark, endured hours upon hours of How I Met Your Mother (much to the dismay of the music aficiona-dos of the cohort), and ate cake in celebration of the poor, yet simultaneously fortunate, soul whose 18th birthday lay on the day of our departure (G.H. and later, M.S.). It was – personally, anyway – the prospect of a horizontal sleep, rather than one in the fetal position on a bus seat, which quashed my desire to run off into the South Australian desert and never return to the bus that we called ‘home’ for the hours of 22-3/06/2019. 32 hours later – ra-ther than touching down in JFK or Heathrow after a lengthy stop-over in Dubai, as we could have - Mikey Boy manoeuvred the bus, with a certain skill that derives only from the finest of experience, into the parking bay of Alice Springs’ Heritage Caravan Park. For the three days ensuing, we were introduced to the wonders of Alice Springs and surrounds. With the warmth a pleasant change from Yea's dreari-ness, legs were largely bare and were certainly put to work during our hikes through the beautiful Western MacDonnell Ranges. Ormiston Gorge and Standley Chasm, in particular, elicited the most complimentary of words, and many returned to their tent-porary homes with their hearts full, and their camera rolls beaming (refer to Instagram for photographic evidence aplenty). From Alice, we pushed on to Kings Canyon – a leisurely 473KM south-west. After a further six hours of HIMYM, bingo and a diverse (for lack of a better word) compilation of songs, a deep regret had sunk in: I, and many others, had neglected to pack, or purchase, a trusty fly net. Whilst those swift, or strategic, enough to nab the last of these sanity-conserving tools from the general store re-joiced, the rest of us soon became well-acquainted with the art of improvisation. However, the events of the next day were enough for me to disregard all fly-related hostility and simply revel in the beauty of this nation. The initial view from Heart Attack Hill (aptly named, may I just mention) was indescriba-ble – of which term is befitting of the entire national park, and the camp itself. There is something about Kings Canyon that cannot be conveyed ver-bally; it genuinely has to be seen to be believed. With many a mind blown and legs wobbling ever so slightly after three hours of walking and marvel-ling at the views, a return to the campsite was in order. With the grumbling of stomachs having had been subdued by a burger or two, some then bore witness to the Canyon from a different angle, whilst others took the time to swim or freshen up, with minds put to rest by the reassuring presence of the

stable-like doors which sought to ward off the pry-ing eyes of dingoes. We then had the pleasure of packing up the tents and relocating to one of the most sacred Indige-nous sites and, arguably, the most iconic tourist attraction of this nation – Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It is, again, difficult to write a concise sum-mary of such an experience, due to the irrefutable magnificence of the rock. Amongst the highlights of the entire trip were the 11KM walk around its base, and the Cultural Centre, where those uncultured rid the ‘un-’. Observing even a mere morsel of In-digenous heritage was truly incredible, as was be-ing able to tick both Uluru and Kata Tjuta off of the bucket list. After two nights at the campground, we, woefully, began our journey back to Yea – but not without an overnight stop at Coober Pedy. The underground dormitory could also be deemed an experience – one that will never fade from my memory. And so, we arrived back in Victoria on the 2nd of July, with suitcases no doubt a little heavier than upon de-parture. I think we all learned a lot about one another, and this country, during our ten-day traversionof both the Northern Territory and South Austral-ia: certain personality traits manifested during a certain game of cards, some are particularly vul-nerable when sleep deprived, and red dirt can be quite stubborn, especially when it’s taken a liking to white clothing. With the bus journey and ten nights’ slumber on a “mattress” taken into account, I don’t think any of us will ever take a bed for grant-ed ever again, nor will we trivialise the immense value of both education and travel. Thank you to all – particularly our favourite drummer, Mr. Treloar; Outdoor Ed extraordinaire, Mr. D’Arcy; gluten-free snack master, Ms. Miller and fel-low Gilmore Girls enthusiast, Ms. Byers – whose efforts made this trip possible; it’s certainly one for the history books.

Mission to Mars

This week year 8 students completed their Mission to Mars at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre. Students took on the role of astronauts and mission directors to complete their mission. They studied the surface of Mars, collecting data and samples that they then brought back to the laboratory to analyse. The aim of their mission was to answer the questions “what was Mars like in the past?”, “What is Mars like now?” And “What will Mars be like in the future?”. (Photos to come).

Year 12 Medicinal Chemistry

Year 12 Chemistry students attended VSSEC last week to participate in the medicinal chemistry pro-gram. Students used various chemical analysis techniques included mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy and high performance liquid chroma-tography to determine the purity of various aspirin samples.

The ‘BE A VOICE OF KINDNESS’

booklet can be downloaded from

the Compass Portal under School

Documentation or visit our web-

site

www.yeahs.vic.edu.au/student-

support-services/ Hard copies

will also be available from the Stu-

Thought for the week

Provided by Welfare & Wellbeing

2019 Tertiary Open Days

The following website lists information about institutional open days provided to VTAC. At open days, you can tour the campus, find out about courses that interest you and get a taste of tertiary life. For further information, including dates, times and loca-tions, visit

www.vtac.edu.au/opendays.html

Year 12 students will be having a VTAC ‘How To’ info session with Mr MacDonald. If you have any

questions regarding the application process please don’t hesitate to

have a chat with him

Hi Yea High School Community

My name is Emma Sears, I am the new School nurse at Yea HS and I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and my role. I trained as a Registered Nurse in Gippsland where I grew up in a small farming community of Stratford. Over my 12 year nursing career I have worked in Paediatrics, Emergency and School nursing in the Gippsland Region. I also worked in the mining sector doing mines rescue, firefighting and first aid. I currently live in Yarra Glen and work in the Emergency Department at the Northern. I work closely with the welfare team, Health and PE teachers and year level advisors to help inform and empower our students with all aspects of their physical, mental and emotional health. Students may see me in Health and PE classes assisting the teachers delivering content such as puberty, drug and alcohol education. I can see students on an individual basis for health education consultations and refer students to external supports/ services if needed. I work Mondays and Tuesdays. Students can drop by my office or ask their teachers to make a referral to see me. Parents are able to contact me through the general office. I am looking forward to working with the school community to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for all our students, families and staff. Kind Regards, Emma Sears.

LIBRARY NEWS

LIBRARY HOURS EXTENDED!

The library is now open to students at lunchtime on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays! Many thanks to the

staff who are helping out with supervision on those days, making it possible to open the library to students.

Happy reading! Belinda

Between Us by Clare Atkins

Can two very different teenagers connect despite high barb-wired fences, cultural differences and a

political wilderness between them.

Ana is an Iranian asylum seeker who is only allowed out of detention to attend school. There she meets Jono,

who is dealing with his own problems: his mum has walked out, his sister has gone away to uni and he’s been

left alone with his Vietnamese father, Kenny.

Kenny is trying to work out the rules of his new job as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre. He tells Ana she should

look out for Jono at school but soon regrets this decision: who is she really? What is her story? Is she a genuine refugee or a

queue jumper? As Ana and Jono grow closer, Kenny spirals into mistrust and suspicion…

Visit the Yea High School library now to

check out this fantastic new book. If

you can’t locate it please ask the

friendly library staff for assistance.

Likewise, if there is a particular book

that you are interested in and you

don’t know if the library has it, just ask!

We are always on the lookout for great

new titles/topics.

Book Profile