Principal’s Report

Parent Forum Tuesday 23 June 6.30 pm -7.30 pm As mentioned in the last newsletter, there will be a parent forum on the last Tuesday of the term, 23rd June, and we would very much welcome the attendance of anyone who is able to be there. It is part of the school review process and will be conducted by an external facilitator. It will be an opportunity for parents to provide feedback to the school about what you think is working, what could be improved, and what new ideas or possibilities could be considered. Your input would be very much appreciated if you are able to attend. Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) In 2014, the incumbent government made the decision to cease the Education Maintenance Al-lowance (EMA) program which entitled eligible families to payments that contributed towards schooling expenses. The positive news for those families is that schools have now been notified that the current gov-ernment is introducing a Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF). This funding will apply to the same families that were eligible for EMA. Eligibility includes any parent or carer who holds a valid means-tested concession (Veteran Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pen-sioner Concession Card) or are a temporary foster parent. Families on a Bridging Visa, Tempo-rary Protection Visa, Community Detention and Asylum Seeker families are also eligible. For secondary students (Years 7 – 12) the payment is $225. The payments are made directly to the school and must only be allocated to camps/trips, excursions/incursions, sporting and outdoor education programs. Schools have been advised that they must communicate to parents as to how the CSEF payment will be allocated. Any part of the $225 not spent within the year can be carried forward to the following year, for the student. Applications forms are available from the school or can be downloaded from the following web-site: www.education.vic.gov.au/csef We will also make a copy available on Compass. Applications close on the last day of term two, Friday 26th June. NAPLAN Since our last newsletter, most of our year 7 and 9 students have completed three days of NAPLAN testing in literacy and numeracy. While our students behaved admirably and conducted themselves in a serious manner throughout the tests, we do need to keep in mind that these tests are only one of many indicators of our students’ achievements at school. In saying that, the results of schools are open to public scrutiny on MySchool, and our students do us proud, performing at or above the State Mean benchmark in almost all areas. In terms of ‘learning gain’ from Year 7 to 9, it is typical that this level of growth will dip when compared to the level of growth from Grade 5 to Year 7. Pleasingly, the consultant analysing the school data for the school review, has pointed out that the learning gain or growth of our students from year 7 to 9 does not reflect this dip, and has been equal to or above the rate of growth that our students had from Grade 5 to Year 7. This is also affirming of the school’s overarching aim to extend and optimise the learning progress of every student, from whatever their starting point is when they arrive with us. If we maintain an explicit focus on this learning growth of the students in our class-rooms, we would hope that the likes of NAPLAN will take care of itself.

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Wednesday May 27 Issue 4

DATES TO REMEMBER

Thurs May 28 - Yr 11 Fit to Drive Mon June 1 - Yr 10 & 11 Study Day Tues June 2 - Yr 8 Sport Tues-Fri June 2-5 - Yr 10 Exams Tues-Wed June 2-10 - Yr 11 Exams Fri June 5 - Yr 7 Sport Mon June 8 - Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday Wed June 10 - VCAA GAT Exam Fri June 12 - Report Writing Day Student Free Day Mon June 15 - VCE Semester 2 begins Tues June 23 - Parent Forum 6.30- 7.30pm for School Review Fri June 26 - End of Term 2 Students dismissed 2.20pm Mon July 13 - Start Term 3 Tues July 14 - FOFCC Meeting 7.00pm Wed July 15 - Y12 TIS Event 11.00-12.40 Wed - Tues July 22 - 28 -Tokorozawa Nishi High School visit

Progress Check Reports, Exams & Report Writing Day Friday 12th June You would have now received your child’s mid-term progress check reports on Compass. As well, the final semester reports are fast approaching. This makes it timely for some monitoring on the home front, as well as at school, to check that final assessment tasks are being completed and submitted by due dates. Of course, progress checks should have indicated any serious is-sues in this arena. Exams start for our Year 10 and 11 students next week, so they should be well and truly gearing up for these with a revision plan being put into action. During the exam period students are only required at school for their scheduled exam times. It is expected that students will utilise the time when they are not required at school, to study and prepare for their next exams. Semester One reports will be available on Compass at the end of the last week of the term. Please note that there will be a report writing day on Friday 12th June, and no students will be required at school. While the core business of assessment tasks, exams and reports are occurring, the ensuing arti-cles of the newsletter are testament to the enormous number of other activities that go on within and beyond the school to enrich student experiences, and give added vitality to the life of the school. Please enjoy the read about our most recent activities and events, and our students’ suc-cesses and achievements within these. Maria Bawden – Principal

100 Story Building excursions

As part of the college’s year 7 English curriculum and school-wide focus on writing skills, all year 7 classes attended a crea-tive writing and animation workshop at 100 Story Building in Footscray this week. The workshop allowed our students to build on the skills they have learnt at school and to apply them in the community. Students will have the opportunity of having the writ-

ing project they started during the workshop edited by professional editors, and published in 100 story Building’s publication, Early Harvest. This is the second year that we have taken our young writers to the centre, with which the college is developing closer ties through the English faculty. 100 Story Building is a centre for young writers based in Mel-bourne’s inner-west, where children and young people are given the opportunity to foster their creative voice and to have their ideas shared and respected. They bring together young writers and members of Melbourne’s creative community, and encourage them to share in their skills and understandings through creative writing excursions, publishing programs and after-school activities.

Poetry Plus

On Thursday the 21st of May our year 8 students took part in the ‘Poetry Plus’ poetry program run by The Complete Works Theatre Company. Poetry Plus is a celebration of Australian poems, songs and storytelling. The program focuses on the qualities of poetry and explores a range of Australian voices, from early settlers, convicts and indigenous poets to migrant poets, early 1900's balladeers and contemporary Australian poets, who all offer different ways to express their voice linguistically and culturally. The poems are couched in an overarching historical narrative that moves from the transportation era to the present and investigates similar, familiar themes. The poems selected vary in form and style and feature well-known works that will be explored in more detail by our years 8s in class. Students will learn how rhyme, rhythm, structure, image, alliteration, personification, onomato-poeia, simile and metaphor are utilised in poetry. In other news, our library is running a book review competition aimed at fostering wide reading and critical review throughout the college. The six best reviews will win a new book and contrib-ute points to their house. Entries close at the end of Term 2. John Box - English coordinator

Footscray City College Environmental Club

The Footscray Environmental Club (FEC) has gained traction over the last few weeks with a large number of students joining the group – more than thirty people attended the last meeting. Both students and staff have seen the need to improve the school’s environmental credential. We talked about setting up worm farms, beekeeping workshops, com-posting bins, school-wide recycling, classroom gardens, chicken rearing and sustainable food options. Suggestions for other activities or actions at school are welcome. Come along to the meetings, every Tuesday at lunch in the Futures Centre, and watch this space for the launch of the Footscray Environmental Club website and Facebook group. Jak Dunstan – Environment Club organizer

Forensic Science Excursion to GTAC

Students in Year 10 General Science were fortunate to take part in an all-day excursion to GTAC (Gene Technology Access Centre) in the campus grounds of University High School on Monday 14 May. The program immersed the students in the field of forensic science as they used blood typing and DNA analysis to place a suspect at a crime scene. Through the examination of semi-nal homicides such as the Peter Falconio and the Azaria Chamberlain cases, the students con-sidered the role of forensic science in police investigations. They utilised models of deoxyribose-nucleic acid to explore the structure and function of DNA, the nature of chromosomes and the principles of inheritance and applied their understandings to the analysis of Short Tandem Re-peats (STRs) to identify individuals. Students performed blood-typing diagnostics to eliminate suspects from a crime scene. They then performed gel electrophoresis to create a DNA profile for the remaining suspects, the victim and the victim’s parents. They used their results to confirm the identity of the victim and place a suspect at the crime scene. The day was highly stimulating in every respect and the students picked up some important practical skills such as using a mi-cropipette and blood typing. Michael Hardiker - Year 10 General Science teacher

Our Victorious Debating Club

Every Wednesday the Debating Club meets to brainstorm, write and practice our upcoming de-bate question. There have been some curly questions over the past four debates, including Should we stop celebrating Australia day? Should we ban photoshopping in magazines? Our last debate at Williamstown High School saw Leo Reid take out best speaker due to his con-vincing arguments on why we should stop celebrating Australia Day in its current form. Other best speakers have been Spencer Davis, Quincy Davis and Alec Coupe. Most pleasing to witness is how the debating club members support each other through offering advice, reflecting on past mistakes, and helping write their teammates speech. The team is currently devising arguments for the next debate, where we argue that we should get rid of State governments. Let’s hope we can build on our four-win streak. The Year 7 and Year 8 Debating Club will begin in Term 3, so if you enjoy working in a team, constructing arguments and public speaking, please pop into the Future Centre staff room early next term. Dave Browning - Debating coordinator

Year 9 Hot Docs students on 3CR

In Hot Docs we’ve been talking a lot about breaking the silence on climate change and last Mon-day 25 May, four year 9 Hot Docs students had the opportunity to do it on community radio sta-tion, 3CR.

Luca Cernaz, Angie Haussegger, Makita Stendt and Spencer Davies were invited to do a radio segment by Dirt Radio presenter John Langer to talk about the Weat-her Stations project we have been participating in this year with the Wheeler Cen-tre and Tipping Point Australia. The students represented FCC extremely well and spoke confidently, eloquently and knowledgeably about both Weather Stations and climate change. If you missed the show and want to listen to the podcast, you can listen to it on http://www.3cr.org.au/dirtradio Monday 25 May episode. Sue Dwyer - Year 9 Hot Docs teacher

A Singular Phenomenon

When they are not studying, playing in a variety of school bands or learning tech skills for the school production, year 10s Reuben Cumming, Angus Ingram and Ben Booker are taking the professional art scene by storm. On Thursday 22nd May the boys made their professional stage debut in the Malthouse Theatre and Aphids production, 'A Singular Phenomenon'. Running for three nights, the boys, along with Lucky Pereira (from Williamstown High School), represented the first teenage band of Joe Dolce, most famous for the song 'Shaddap You Face' in 1981 and the Singular Phe-nomenon himself. A difficult concept to describe on paper, the show was described as an "intriguing interactive perfor-mance event" which "takes the form of a massive game of 20 questions, inviting the audience to explore the inner world of a very particular song and the eccentric life of its creator." And boy was it intriguing! Not only was the performance entertaining, unexpected and hilariously fun, but it also gave our talented students the opportunity to showcase their talents as musicians and artists in the wider arts community. They did the school very proud, sporting their FCC uniforms during the show and exuding style and professionalism. Congratulations to Reuben, Angus, Ben and Lucky.

Be Not Afear'd

In September 2014 FCC embarked on a highly successful Extended Schools Residency with Western Edge Youth Arts. From this partner-ship came forth the installation artwork 'Be Not Afear'd'. Feeling that the process should be documented, we enlisted the assistance of some young filmmakers (Year 9s at the time). After initial documentation, two of these talent-ed students took it upon themselves to work with me to edit and create the final product, a beautiful, insightful documentary following the process and production of our installation work. We are now ready to launch this incredible piece. Please see the attached flyer and come along to appreciate the hard work of all the stu-dents who took part in the project in 2014, in particular our young film editors Angus Ingram and Strummer Cullip-Bartlett. I am incredibly proud of the hard work these boys have put in, so please show your support and join us. Tickets only $5 – including finger food.

Pie Drive

We will be holding (quite appropriately) a pie drive to fundraise for the 2015 musical Sweeney Todd. Please grab a copy of the pie drive form, share it with your friends and order up big!

PARENTS, we need your help!

Our school production "Sweeney Todd – School Edition" is looking like being our best and most ambitious production yet, but we need your help! While the kids are working hard learning their lines and practicing their songs, the Drama depart-ment have been busily designing the sets and props for the show. Now we need to start construc-tion. We are looking for parents that can offer time or resources for a variety of jobs. We need:

Builders Structural engineers (yes, for a school

production!) Painters Handymen Seamstresses

Jobs include: Construction of sets Painting sets Sewing costumes Numerous odd jobs

Resources we are in need of: fabric – especially lace (even old curtains), velvets and brocaded fabrics Timber Old wire bird cages

We will be holding a WORKING BEE on the Queen's birthday weekend, Sunday 7th June from 10am - 4pm and a SEWING BEE on the following Saturday, 13th June 10am – 4pm If you can offer any assistance (even if it’s not on our list) please email untwan.emily.l@edumail.vic.gov.au or call me in the Year 8 Coordinators office. We appreciate your continued support! Production Director – Emily Unt Wan

Zeal Theatre visits FCC

Last week on Tuesday the 12th and Wednesday 23rd, two people came from Zeal Theatre to per-form for the year 8s. They performed a play called “The Stones”, about two young children who made some pretty unfortunate mistakes, but throughout the play they really enforced the trauma these children faced during their trial. I believe that they tried to show us that you should always take into consideration the effect that your actions cause. At the end of the play they took us through some activities that helped us get into the spirit of acting and teamwork. I believe that on the whole it was a great incursion that really taught me a lot. By Malachai Mowles, year 8

Bollywood Dance Competition

On July 25th twenty students from years 7-11 will be competing in the High School Dance Compe-tition with a Bollywood theme at the Dallas Brooks Hall. We’ve been working really hard rehears-ing after school on Wednesdays, and Thursday lunchtimes. We are taking inspiration from classic Bollywood dances and adding our own spin to it. Our routine is looking fabulous thanks to Marga-ret Erickson. We’d love you to come and support us when we compete. Details regarding the pur-chase of tickets will be in a later newsletter. Aniya Younge - Year 11 Dance student

Mid Year Concert

On Thursday June 11, our major music ensembles will be performing at the FCC Mid-Year Con-cert. Starting at 6:30pm in the theatre, the evening will showcase some of the hard work that has been going on in the music department this year with items from percussion ensembles, guitar

groups, Rookie Band, Stage Band, a sax quartet, the String Ensemble and more. Our talented and numerous vocalists will only be taking cameo roles, as many of them starred in a wonderful vocal soiree on May 7 at which our singing teacher, Louisa Rankin was farewelled. For the remainder of term 2, we welcome Jocelyn Jensen to teach singing until a permanent replacement is decided upon. Congratulations to the VCE and year 9 bands that performed on Monday May 25 in a concert fea-turing a range of styles across five bands, including one year 9 group entirely student driven. Paul Dooley - Creative Arts coordinator

New landscaped area at school entrance

Hooray! At last the landscaping is almost complete at the front of the school between the new Sci-Tech Centre and the Main Building. An ex-FCC Horticulture student prepared the landscape design and local company, Big Fish, constructed the seating. The VET Horticul-ture students worked on the irrigation, planting and mulching of the area. The bench seats were donated to the school by the City of

Yarra and refurbished by Big Fish. The grass seating was constructed by Big Fish, and hopefully this area will be utilised in the way in which was designed – for passive recreation. Steve Beattie - Grounds Manager

SPORT AT FOOTSCRAY CITY

It has been a very busy Term 2 of sport so far. The most pleasing aspect has been the level of student participation at Interschool competitions. To assist their studies, the senior competitions have already been completed except for a few winners who will go onto the next round. Year 7, 8 and Intermediate Interschool competitions will be coming up soon. Along with terrific participation rates, Footscray City has enjoyed success in Term 1 and early Term 2. Teams to progress to Western Metropolitan Region finals after winning our local competi-tion include Year 8 Girls and Intermediate Boys Tennis, Year 7 Boys and Intermediate Boys Crick-et and Year 8 Boys Volleyball. Also, congratulations to all students who have represented the school on their behaviour and the sportsmanship displayed. It has been really pleasing to witness the spirit and goodwill shown throughout these competitions. As well as Interschool competition, there have been weekly timetabled Sport Education classes for all Years 7, 8 and 9 students and our hugely successful Year 7 and 8 Swimming and Athletics car-nivals have already been completed this year. Apart from the traditional sports mentioned above, Sport Education classes in Personal Fitness, Dance & Ten Pin Bowling have also been running in Terms 1 and 2. Finally, many thanks to the staff who have volunteered to coach our teams, both at sport days and after school.

INTERSCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY

Congratulations to the following students, who qualified for Western Metro Region Interschool Cross-Country at Brimbank Park on June 11 by finishing in the top 10 runners at the recent District competition: Year 7: Mame Salah 1st, Molly Roberts 2nd, Darcy Morton 5th, Isis Mitchener 8th ; Year 8: Jackson Glover 1st, Kelsea Blackburn 5th, Annika Murray 7th, Olivia Battaglia 10th, Kyle Holden 10th, Kieran McMahon 10th Year 9: Maxine Huntsman 1st, Eliza Lucid 6th & Max Taylor 7th,

Mame & Jackson

Year 12: Hannah Veljanovska 1st

Mark Komp - Health/PE and Sport Coordinator

Pathways 2015

Semester one was an extremely busy time encouraging our students from years 7 to 10 to consid-er future career and university options. Year 10 Year 10 students visited both Deakin and Latrobe universities. Students attended a lecture, were given information booklets about the university programs and were taken on a guided campus tour. Both institutions emphasized the importance of selecting subjects that students enjoyed do-ing but also met the prerequisite requirements of potential university courses. The university websites have information that is relevant to both year 10 students and parents. Please visit: http://www.deakin.edu.au/study-at-deakin/why-choose-deakin/parent-information and http://www.latrobe.edu.au/study/resources/year-10 VCE subject selection will take place in late July. It is important that students start thinking about their future options and their 2016 VCE subjects. La Trobe University The Experience La Trobe for a day is on July 9th. You can attend workshops, lectures and semi-nars to find out about career options, areas of study, pathways and student life. Take your friends and parents and chat with student ambassadors about what to expect at uni. This is a free event with lunch and entertainment. Register on the La Trobe University website. A number of our year 10 students’ leaders attended the Next Generation youth forum at La Trobe University. The forum was about Young Australians inspired to make a difference. Our delegates participated in workshops presented by young leaders in business sports, climate change, disabili-ties and aid agencies. VCE Expo 2015 All Years 9 and 10 students attended "The Age VCE " Careers Expo at Caulfield racecourse. The Expo brought together the major tertiary institutions, information about the VCE and career re-sources and advice. LEAP 2015 Our year 7 students participated in the Leap program. Student spent the morning in workshops about occupations in Law, Business, Health, Engineering and Design. Seeing them dressed as ambulance paramedics, Doctors, Nurses and Barrister gowns in mock courts was both inspiring and gave students a taste of future career options. Future Activities Activities in the remaining weeks this term will include students participating in the Try a Trade day in Footscray and year 9 students visiting RMIT university. All students will be updating their Managed Individual Pathways on line and be setting semester goals. Please visit https://www.mipsonline.com.au/fcc Students are also encouraged to sign up at my future, which is Australia's career information and exploration service. Please see http://myfuture.edu.au Make sure that you register at this website and create your career profile.

Next semester a number of year11 students will have a real taste of university life by enrolling in Victoria University for a term to undertake a unit of undergraduate study. Work Experience 2015 Year 10 students should start arranging their work experience now. Students start work on Monday December 3 for two weeks. Work Experience arrangement forms and Health and Safety training details will be released during term 3. Chris Lovelock - Pathways Coordinator

Year 10 visit to VCE Career Expo – 8 May 2015

On a gloomy, cold autumn day 126 Year 10 students and their teachers set out on a life-changing adventure. We boarded our buses and ventured to the faraway realm of Caulfield, where we visit-ed the VCE and Careers Expo 2015. While there, students explored options for their life after school, gaining an insight into their future, visiting worlds of further education and employment. It was a tremendously satisfying opportunity for those who took advantage of the multiple options. Seminars were held which demonstrated what it was like to work as a lawyer, doctor or account-ant. The sky was the limit (especially in the Defence Force!). Advice on how to choose VCE sub-jects could be found and universities were available to talk about options. Students played video games, went into a 3D-simulated world, collected lollies, queued up for free fairy floss – there were many opportunities! Footscray City Films were there, showcasing their wonderful course. There was something for everyone, but finally the day was over and we re-turned back with expanded horizons, excited about what can be achieved in the future. Anne Macdonald - Pre-Service Teacher

Southern Cross Cultural Exchange

Is seeking volunteer host families to host international ex-change students arriving in July 2015 for a stay of one

term, one semester or two semesters.

As Marcel Proust, a late 19th Century novelist wrote : “ the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking

new landscapes but having new eyes”

Volunteer to host an international high school student arriv-ing into Australia in July 2015 through Southern Cross Cul-tural Exchange and prepare to be amazed at the way this unique and rewarding opportunity helps your family to be-come closer, to understand themselves better and see the

world in a new light.

Carefully selected students will arrive in July for one term , one semester or two semesters from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and

Denmark. They will attend a local High School, arrive with their own spending money and comprehensive health in-surance cover – all arranged by Southern Cross Cultural Exchange. To enquire about becoming a volunteer host

family visit us at www.scce.com.au email scceaust@scce.com.au

or call us toll free on 1800 500 501, request our internation-al student profiles and capture the spirit of family and

friendship.

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