ALTONA P-9 COLLEGE

NEWSLETTER Edition 9 June 14 2013

Altona P-9 College, 103a Grieve Parade, Altona 3018. Private Bag 9, Altona 3018. T: (03) 9250.8050 E: altona.p9@edumail.vic.gov.au W: www.altonap9college.vic.edu.au

2013

TERM TWO DATES

Friday 21st June

P-4 (Early Years)

Assembly 2.30 -

3.05pm

Friday 28th June Term 2 ends 2.15pm Finish

TERM THREE DATES Monday 15th July First Day Term 3 Monday 12th August Curriculum Day (Student Free Day) 11th-13th November Grades 3-6 Camp Lady Northcote Camp 2014 ENROLMENTS

PREP & YEAR 7 2014 College Tours are conducted every Friday Morning at 11.30am Please phone the school office on 9250.8050 to book a tour. Private tours with the Principal are also available, please phone to arrange a time with the Principal.

Dear Parents,

This week has certainly flown by with the public holiday on Monday. Students settled quickly

back into routine on Tuesday with the Year 9 boys visiting Carranballac for a netball tournament. Reports are they had a great time and will continue to develop their skills in this

activity. The Year 9 group also travelled to Paisley College on Thursday to gain an insight into

senior education. It is hard to believe that in just 6 months’ time we will say farewell as they move on to new and exciting challenges.

We have a group of secondary students from Fukuoka Seiryo in Japan visiting us on 2nd August.

They will be in Australia on a two week cultural tour. The group will be attending English lessons at the guide hall on most days and undertaking excursions to schools and notable landmarks in

the city. The group aiiu who are facilitating the tour are looking for local families to host

students in a home stay arrangement. A small financial remuneration is provided to host families. A flyer is included in the newsletter with contact details for the organisation.

We have had some ongoing reports of head lice in our Early Years Learning Centre. They are a

bit of a pest for the families affected and I do ask that you work with us to ensure that children

are checked regularly for signs of infestation. All eggs need to be removed from the hair shafts to ensure your child is not reinfected. I have had circumstances at other schools where parents

have treated the hair at night and come in for a quick check the next morning only to find more live louse. This was due to eggs not being removed and them hatching overnight. Unfortunately

the chemical and herbal based products work well to kill live louse but not their eggs. There are numerous recommendations online for eradication. In the meantime the Hobson’s Bay team

checked our Early Years students on Wednesday and we have booked further whole college

checks commencing next term to assist families. Please be vigilant and check your child daily.

The term is drawing rapidly to a close and will finish on Friday June 28th. The College will dismiss at the earlier time of 2:15pm on that day. Mid Years student reports will be distributed on

Tuesday 25th June. Early Years reports will be handed to students and Middle Years reports will

be posted on that day to families. Parent teacher conferences will be held early in term 3.

Advance Notice: The final curriculum day (Student Free Day) for Altona P–9 College will be held on MONDAY AUGUST 12th. On this day our teaching staff will be working with

consultant Lesley Tulloch to document our curriculum to include AusVels.

Thank you to the local Altona RSL (Returned Services League) for the kind donation of $500 to

our College. The cheque was presented at assembly last week. The money has gone towards new art room stools replacing those from the old secondary college.

We have many parents who help us around the College such as our fund raising group, those

who assist with student banking, in the canteen or on excursions. We have had many helpers at

special events such as our sports days and special events. Your efforts don’t go unnoticed and are all very much appreciated. Thank you also to Meena Ramachandran (Sasha Yr 5, Devesh Yr

2 and Thushana Yr Prep) who has kindly spent many hours tidying up and organising the uniform shop and to Jess Jandula (Blake Yr Prep) and Tarius McArthur (Xavier Yr Prep) for their work in

our kitchen garden. Many hands certainly make light work in our unique community.

I encourage all community members to continue to check our website. It is updated every few

days on the front page to ensure our families are kept up to date with what is happening in and around our college.

To all the football followers in our community we hope your teams are successful this weekend.

I was pleasantly surprised with the final score for my team on Friday night. Go Bombers!

Julie Krause (Acting Principal)

Principal’s Public Speaking Competition 2013 Who should be our role models?

Congratulations to Sasha Year 5 who achieved first place with a moving tribute to Mother Teresa and her work in the slums of India. Sasha presented with confidence engaging the audience through the use of strong accurate language and credible examples to back up her opinion. 2nd Place: Sanielle Year 7 whose speech paid tribute to our College staff and how they are role models for him personally. Sanielle used some eye contact, variance in pitch, rate and volume to appropriately convey his meaning. He spoke fluently and was well rehearsed. 3rd Place: Daniel Year 8—Daniel engaged his audience discussing how we model ourselves on Others from an early age. He spoke with confidence, and provided credible sources of evidence to support his arguments. Special Commendation Awards Kaela Year 5 Bianca Year 5 Special Recognition Awards Deon Year 7,Tiana Year 6, Sean Year 8, Tia Year 7, Anatasia Year 8, Jascha Year 8,Jemma Year 7 Lirim Year 7, Fiona Year 8

Congratulations I am extremely proud of you all!

Continuing on from the previous two newsletters here is some further valuable information from the article

taken from the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour titled Are you Surviving or Thriving?

You may remember that it was stated four key characteristics need to be addressed to move from lan-guishing to flourishing. The first was The way you think, the second was The way you work

The next characteristic is:

3. The way you balance stress

The following example shows us possible ways to deal with a busy day.

Amy and Kate are on their lunch breaks. Amy heads out of the office for a relaxing walk, eats a sandwich

in the park, takes in some fresh air and goes back to work energised and ready for the afternoon shift.

Kate has far too much to do, gulps down a dodgy salad and a Mars Bar at her desk and tries to finish a

presentation due tomorrow while at the same time juggling the constant stream of emails.

Who will have the more productive afternoon?

Flourishers have excellent emotional and social health. They see the bigger picture. They take time out of

their day to clear their head. They are aware of their pressure points and can identify times of stress and

react accordingly. They are resilient and can positively bounce back from stressful situations. Flourishers

know where they are going and realise the importance of stopping to check that they are on the right

path. They know how to recharge.

Here are a few examples of ways to move on from difficult moments.

Recovery skills

When you experience stress your breathing becomes shallow and a stress trigger is released in your brain.

This results in feelings of anxiety and a lack of focus. Use deep diaphragmatic breathing for a few

minutes that helps send a message to your brain that you are no longer under stress.

Take at least one extended holiday each year where you don't constantly check your digital devices.

Move away from your workspace and give your body and brain a break. You can take a walk around the

office floor or stretch at your workstation.

It’s important to take the time to think about how you operate in your day to day life tasks. If you know

you need to make some changes it’s vital to your wellbeing that you do so. We’ll look at the final strategy

next time.

Have a great weekend,

Frances Totney

Student Wellbeing Leader

As part of their Positive Education course the Year 8 students organised a Dress Up Day for the whole school on Friday, 7th June. Everyone was encouraged to dress up in a favourite character from a book, film or game.

A total of $150.40 was raised for the Lions Club Soup Kitchen, $150.00 is 1 ½ months worth of food for the van.

Well done to everyone that participated

Vegetable Garden A Big thank you to parents Jess & Tarius who have done a superb job on our vegetable

garden – they have weeded it, prepared the soil & planted our winter crop.

The Food Tech department will get to use the wonderful onions, garlic, broccoli, cauli-

flower, silver beet, snow peas & all the fresh herbs at harvest time.

Mary Borrachi

Food Technology Teacher

Music News

DRUM KIT DONATION Altona P-9 College is very fortunate to have recently been donated a second hand drum kit for our music program. Warm thanks

and appreciation goes to the Hutchins family for this generous donation.

COLLEGE CHOIR The College Choir has been working very hard this term on their songs. Our Year 5/6 Choir Leaders have been helping the younger

students with their singing and accompanying them on instruments including the marimba, ‘cello and electric guitar. This has been a

great experience for the students. We are hoping to perform at an assembly soon, so please stay tuned for further information.

KEYBOARD EVOLUTION – YEAR 7 Year 7 students are making great progress on the keyboard. This week they have been learning how to play 12 Bar Blues

chords along with a jazz backing style. Soon they will be learning how to play ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay. Fantastic! They are

also completing written theory tasks as part of learning how to read and write music. Please could all students ensure they

bring their Keyboard Evolution workbook to school each week as it is used in every class for both written and practical work.

Thanks,

Mrs Newton

Music Co-ordinator

Year 9 Boys Netball competition

On Tuesday the 11th of June the Year 9 Boys Netball team participated in the Hobsons Bay Division Winter inter-

school sports. The event was held at Carranballac College in Point Cook. Our netball team played 2 games, the

first against Carranballac and the seconds against Bayside.

Our first game against was a fast paced clash against a well-polished Carranballac team. Although we lost by a fair margin the team

worked hard in defence to stem the attack of the opposition. We used the ball well during turnovers, recognising the importance of

moving the ball quickly and accurately towards goal.

Our second game against Bayside was a hard fought slog. The scores were even at half time and we narrowly went down by 2 goals at

the end of the 4th quarter. Riley M and Samin T provided plenty of run during this game as they switched between Goal Attach and

Centre. Both of them worked hard to move the ball towards our scoring end and always presented themselves as a passing option.

Scott Brown and Connor P worked tirelessly in defence, keeping a tight leash on the opponents which made potential scoring

opportunities for the opposition hard to come by.

Despite walking away with 2 losses the team played well as individuals in the varying positions and worked well together as a team.

Altona P-9 College OSHC 0450 778 047 14th June 2013

Thank you, Keelie.

Natalie MacLachlan, Coordinator

Woolworths Earn & Learn

2013 Dear Parents,

Last Days to bring your Earn & Learn tokens to school.

Please drop at the office as soon as possible.

Thankyou to all families that have been dropping in to-kens, we will be able to get some great new equip-ment. The range is extensive and offers lots of items ideal for our students – including resources for Maths, English, Science and some fantastic fun supplies for Arts & Craft, Sport and for our library.

Breakfast Club

Tuesday & Thursday Mornings—All Welcome