Term 3 Newsletter 2024

Dear Parents/ Carers and Students,

Term three is always an exciting and tiring time at Roxburgh College when not a week seems to pass without some quite significant happening. The Term started with a successful Curriculum Day that provided an opportunity for staff to collaborate in preparing their teaching programs. We had winter sports ending with a number of school teams competing and representing our school well, including a number of students participating in the Northern Regional Athletics Day.

Mental Health Awareness Week, Wear it Purple Day, RU OK Day and NAIDOC Week were also celebrated, all promoting ‘acceptance and inclusion.’ We managed to squeeze in some staff v students sports at lunchtime and o Our VET Music and Instrumental Music students offered parent/carers, students and staff brilliant performances that lifted our spirit during a period of inclined weather, which influenced attendance.

I feel really encouraged when I ponder the breadth of opportunities available and see how many staff and students get involved. And, I encourage all our students to keep looking for opportunities to be involved in school life, not just in the academic sense.  

A significant occurrence this term was the Course Selection events across Year 7 to Year 11, and the Parent-Teacher Interviews that where well received, including some parents/carers and students engaging in a treasure trail that saw only a few people identify an area of the school we affectionately refer to as ‘The Grey Elephant.’

Moving forward, I would like to see us continue to respect the decisions we make in relation to dealing with school expectations. In particular, this means supporting us to: implement the ban on mobile telephones in school; and embrace appropriate conduct and behaviours that help keep everyone safe.  

In terms of Term 4, we face the ‘business’ end of the year. Year 12 VCE students will soon engage in their final examinations and many students will also be finishing internal assessments.

I hope the end of term break gives students a chance to recharge and refresh. Our seniors might use the opportunity to catch-up on some work, get some good study done but also have some well-deserved down time. Term four will be brief for our seniors in terms of time at school before end of year exams. I wish them the best over the coming months, and we look forward to seeing them all again next term.

With Respect and care,

Fernando Ianni

Principal

TERM 4 CHANGE TO BELL TIMES

In term 4 we will be trialling new bell times, with school starting at 9:00 and still finishing at 2:50. The ten minutes we have lost will be due to a shorter lunch time. Please see new times below:

Period 1                9:00 – 10:00

Period 2                10:00 – 11:00

Recess                   11:00 – 11:20

Period 3                11:20 – 12:20

Period 4                12:20 – 1:20

Lunch                    1:20 – 1:50

Period 5                1:50 – 2:50

Our annual lunch with the School’s Captains and Vice Captains. The purpose of the lunch is to do a ‘pulse check’ with the student leaders and discuss any issues they have with respect to supporting the students of Roxburgh College.

The lunch always takes place when the VET Hospitality students are running the lunchtime restaurant so we can support them in acquiring the necessary competencies for their VET Certificate.

Our Year 10 students have returned to school invigorated and ready to continue their academic journey. After a productive period of work experience and exams, they are now poised to dive back into their studies and prepare for the crucial years ahead.

In recent weeks, the school has been focused with activities as we hosted an important assembly outlining the pathways available for Year 11 and Year 12 students. The assembly provided comprehensive information about the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Education – Vocational Major (VCE-VM). This session was pivotal in guiding students through the various academic and vocational options available to them, helping them make informed decisions about their future studies.

In addition to this, a Parents’ Evening was held to ensure that families are fully informed about what to expect in the coming years. The evening was a valuable opportunity for parents to engage with educators, ask questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the academic and vocational pathways their children will be navigating.

Looking ahead, Course Selection is on the horizon. This critical period will see students making significant decisions about their subjects for the next academic year. With a range of options available, students will need to carefully consider their interests, career aspirations, and academic strengths as they chart their course for Year 11 and Year 12.

As we move forward into this exciting phase, we encourage both students and parents to take full advantage of the resources and guidance available to them. The decisions made during this time will lay the groundwork for future academic and career opportunities, and we are here to support our students every step of the way.

    Did someone say a Mona Lisa Lasagne?

 In Term 3, Ms Foti’s year 8 Italian class were given a mission: To recreate Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous artwork, The Mona Lisa, on a LASAGNA! After careful consideration and inspection of each lasagne, a winner has been selected!

Congratulations to Enna in 8S for recreating the Mona Lisa on Lasagna!

With this task I enjoyed taking my time decorating my top layer of lasagna trying my best to recreate the Mona Lisa onto lasagna. I enjoyed it because I got to have a really fun time imagining how I’m going to make my top layer look like Mona Lisa and in general just having fun with my friends! In this fun task I learnt how to layer the ingredients for my lasagna. In the end it looked good and tasted AMAZING. – Enna Murica 8S

I enjoyed spreading the bolognese sauce and making a face with the ingredients. I used pasta sheets, bolognese sauce and lastly mozzarella cheese. I really enjoyed it because it was my first time cooking and it was very interesting and fun, I liked putting the ingredients together and seeing how it would turn out. I learnt that cooking is really fun and enjoyable and you should always try new things even if they aren’t in your comfort zone. Now I also know how to cook lasagna. This was a really enjoyable experience and I had tons of fun. – Ninos Benjamin 8

Your College Community is pleased to announce the publication of it’s very first novel, “The Scraping” by Roxburgh College student, Z.E.M.

Below is a snippet of the book – the blurb. Look out for the full text, on shelves soon in our very own Roxburgh College Library!

The Scraping 

Have you ever felt you were being watched? Have you ever been chased by your nightmares? Have your nightmares come to life? I’ve been told that I’m not normal and I need help. I know they are not hallucinations; they are real, they are coming after me. As the moon cast eerie shadows through my window, I sank into a restless sleep, the line between dreams and reality blurring like ink on wet paper. Nightmares, once mere phantoms of my imagination, had twisted into vivid hallucinations that seeped into my waking hours. Each breath was a reminder of the ghastly figures lurking just outside my vision—glimpses of twisted faces and hollow eyes that stared back at me. I could feel their whispers brushing against my skin, chilling me to the bone. What was once a simple fear of the dark transformed into a relentless haunting, a malevolent presence that followed me through the day and through the night, taunting me with the possibility that perhaps my worst nightmares were not confined to slumber. Sleep became a fragile sanctuary, but every time I closed my eyes, I knew I was inviting the darkness back in.

A photo of four of Ms Abbott’s Japanese students (Hadi, Adam, Issa and Badar) making sushi at the end of Term 2 with Ms Osman’s Turkish class – they were very proud of their creations and are excited to make Turkish gozleme with the same class this term as part of a cultural exchange between the classes.

Here is also a photo of a student’s work – Christy Warda.  She made a schedule for her favourite video game character and illustrated it for her PFT, and used kanji (Chinese characters) to make it extra high level!

The Year 12 EAL students participated in extra classes this term. While it was a bit early in the morning, the classes offered opportunities to further improve our skills and gain more knowledge to perform the best of our academic abilities and allow us to get a clear understanding of skills we may not fully grasp during regular lessons. We received personalised attention and feedback from our teacher, Ms Jagdish, who is always ready to provide assistance. And to keep us warm and cosy during the chilly weather, the school kitchen kindly donated hot chocolate; this thoughtful gesture encouraged us to arrive early and be ready to learn, creating a welcoming atmosphere that made those early mornings much more enjoyable. 

Congress is a flagship student-led experience where secondary students from around Victoria all meet up and come up with issues and solutions about 4 main topics that were given to us, affecting our education system.

This year, 3 students were chosen from the SRC to go and have the experience of congress, which were: Dima Dawood, Sura Sarhan and Sara Badra, all from year 11.