suzanne cory high school newsletter volue ssue wee · pdf fileflight to the imagination, and...

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Suzanne Cory High School Newsletter Volume 5 Issue 7 | Week 5 Term 2, 2015

Suzanne Cory High School Newsletter

Principal’s ReportAn education at Suzanne Cory High School is a diverse education. The past two weeks since the last newsletter has once again demonstrated the different elements of education. A number of sporting teams have competed, student groups have met and the SRC has continued to represent the interests of the student

body. Last Monday, the music department held a Soiree in the auditorium. This was an opportunity for our students to display their musical ability and progress in a performance. The importance of music, and the performing arts, cannot be overstated. As we aim for our students to be a ‘Renaissance person’, an appreciation of the arts is an integral part of the definition. When I welcomed people to the Soiree, I quoted Plato, who wrote over 2000 years ago that “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” This is the importance of music.

One of my aims for the school into the future is to further develop music and the performing arts at Suzanne Cory High School; I expect to see a production next year!

In the same week, as an interesting juxtaposition, all Year 9 students participated in the NAPLAN tests. The test results, which parents receive in August, affirm the standards of the students on a national scale. The school has found in the past that the NAPLAN results have more often than not reflected the Edutest results from the entrance exam. While we can debate the efficacy of these results for a Years 9 to 12 school, it is a good opportunity for the students to practice the basics of test techniques; task to time. Later this term the majority of the students will be either undertaking mid-year exams or the GAT.

The staff are continuing to work on the curriculum review. Very soon we will have a model that I will present to the school community and seek feedback from both students and parents. I am sure that the end product will provide for an even better educational opportunity for our students and reflect the very concept of the ‘Renaissance person’.

Colin AxupPrincipal

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” - Plato

Connect with other parents

Our PFA hosts regular meetings at the school as well as fundraisers to support the school and its students. If you’re keen to help out, give some feedback, share ideas and connect with other parents then come along to the next PFA meeting: Wednesday 20 May at 6.30pm here at the school.

Today during home group your child has been given a Student Details form. Please read these details carefully and mark down any changes that need to

be made.

Please return these to the General Office no later than 22 May.

Your assistance is appreciated.

Jade McKimmie Business Manager

Student Details



Exam weekFull details of the term 2 exam week were provided to students on 12 May and were circulated in an email to parents on 15 May. The exam period for

Semester 1 is in Week 8 of this term (the week beginning Monday, 1 June).

Please note that there are no ‘home study days’ before the exam week begins but students will have a ‘revision week’ at school in the week before exams.

Students are required to wear their normal school uniform during the exam week.

For our Year 12 students, classes will run as normal throughout this week.

There will be no VCE unit 3 & 4 mid-year exams during this week, but there will be VCE unit 3 & 4 practice exams in the last week of term 3 (14—18 September 2015).

Year 9 and 10 students will have their exams on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this term’s exam week (Week 8) and will resume normal semester 1 classes on the Thursday and Friday.

VCE unit 1 exams will run for Year 11 students (and for some Year 10 students) across the course of the whole week, from Monday to Friday.

For more information about the exam schedules, students and parents can contact Darren Nicholas, Curriculum Implementation Leading Teacher, or Stewart Milner, Assistant Principal, at the school. Report-writing dayThere will be a student-free day for exam marking and report writing on Tuesday, 9 June, after the Queen’s Birthday public holiday. Students will return to school on Wednesday, 10 June and will begin their semester two subjects on Thursday 11 June. Final day of term 2The final day of term 2 will be Friday 26 June. On this day, students will be dismissed at 2.20pm. First day of term 3For students, the first day of term 3 will be Tuesday, 14 July. The first day for staff will be Monday, 13 July, which is a designated curriculum planning day. The full calendar of events is available on our website. Click here to view.

Stewart MilnerAssistant Principal

Exams

http://www.suzannecoryhs.vic.edu.au/news-events/schoolcalendar



97 enthusiastic students and 18 dedicated teachers and parents gave up a Good Friday morning sleep-in in order to collect donations for the annual Good Friday Appeal around the

South and Port Melbourne areas from 9am to 1pm, working in conjunction with Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School and the Pied Pipers. The Pied Pipers have run these collections annually with a number of school across Melbourne.

The students and supervisors remained cheerful and enthusiastic throughout the day, encouraging

one another in their endeavour to raise much needed funds for equipment, research and education to support the Royal Children’s’ Hospital.

Suzanne Cory students raised over $11,000 on the day for the Pied Pipers! They should all be very proud of their efforts. I hope they are able to volunteer their time again next year and bring along more parent volunteers as well.

The grand total raised on the day from donors all over Victoria was over $17 million! You can still donate to the Royal Children’s Hospital by visiting their website http://www.goodfridayappeal.com.au/.Ms Marissa Chui Student Leadership Co-ordinator

Good Friday Appeal

These 4 students were elected by their year 9 peers to represent them on the Suzanne Cory Student Representative Council. The SRC’s main purpose is to help raise student concerns and suggestions and then bring them to the administrative and principal team.

Introducing the Year 9 SRC members for 2015

Left to right: Shaun Thomas, Sameer Mohammed Khan, Sandra Kumar, Zoha Haider Tirmizi

in the iC

entre!

http://www.goodfridayappeal.com.au/

http://www.goodfridayappeal.com.au/



Monash Commerce Scholars Day is an exclusive invitation-only event for high achieving year 12 stu-dents. Eight Suzanne Cory High School students were invited to attend this year based on their performance in the Commerce disciplines of Ac-counting, Economics, Legal Studies and Business Management. Invited students were able to select various lecture sessions and workshops based on, but extending, topics that they are studying in VCE. Nina Wang of 12C was one of those students and made the following comments about the day. Mr Michael Bourke

On the 8th of May, eight year 12 students from our school were invited to attend the Monash Com-merce Scholars Day at the Caulfield Campus of Monash University. On this day, we had five hours to experience university life a year early. Not only were we introduced to different lecture theatres and teaching staff of the Monash business school, we even had the opportunity to attend 2 lectures on a VCE subject we were currently studying in school.

In the accounting masterclasses I attended, to my surprise, I sat through a lecture that was actually both interactive and fun. In between learning the more serious topics of accounting, we participated in quizzes to test our knowledge. Our team was even awarded Hershey’s chocolate for answering the most questions right! Personally, I found the presentations regarding our future careers to be the most useful. The vari-ous career options and opportunities offered by Monash university (e.g. studying abroad) have really broadened my understanding of what ter-tiary education is all about. It really isn’t just study, study, study.

Our final guest speaker, Cain Murphy, spoke of his own experience as a Monash graduate and it just made me realise that year 12 is only just the begin-ning of the long journey to come. There is still much out there, waiting for us to experience. Thank you to Monash University and the school (in particular Mr Bourke) for offering us this amazing opportunity! Nina Wang 12C

Monash Commerce Scholars Day

Secondary school students have the opportunity to create a book trailer (short film) of their favourite book or design a book cover in any media.

Students may also interpret a book they are currently studying as part of the curriculum and they can enter individually or as part of a class activity.

By entering, schools go in the running to win Penguin book prizes, and winning students in both categories will receive an iPad and books supplied by Penguin Random House Australia.

Paper Cuts is part of the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge. However students don’t need to register in the Challenge to participate.

Entries will be judged by industry professionals including world-renowned Australian author and illustrator, Graeme Base who is best-known for his books Animalia and The Eleventh Hour.

The competition closes on 31 July. For more information on Paper Cuts visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/papercuts

Student book covers and trailers will be displayed in the iCentre and will be eligible for school prizes as part of our Library and Information week celebrations starting on May 25th.

Fiona StarfordiCentre Manager

Paper Cuts competition is now open!

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/papercuts

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/papercuts



Many, many thanks to all of the people who worked hard to make our Soiree a success! As well as our fabulous students, and music staff, there were many behind-the-scenes people who contributed above and beyond the call of duty.

Special thanks go to Joshua Cordina and Lahiru Welgama for stepping up to do a great job of MC-ing with Mr Millner and Mr Axup. Thank also to Ms Graf, for playing with the Jazz ensemble and being our photographer and Ms Cameron for being our Usher.

Thanks also to Ms Beljac for making a stunning Program for our evening which added quite a touch

of class, and to Ms McKimmie for helping to make sure we had our pizza! (Yum!)

Thanks most of all, to all of the families and friends and staff members in the audience, who stayed to enjoy the concert and support the hard work of our students. A positive experience for all

Looking forward to the next one!From your Music Staff,Ms Scott (Strings), Mr Dorn (Piano), Ms Ladd (Choir)Ms Morris (Woodwind/Brass), Mr Satchell (Guitar) and Mr Portelli.

Soiree



On Tuesday the 21st of April, the Unit 1 and Unit 3 Media classes went to watch Top Screen at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Top Screen showcases the best VCE Media films from each year. We saw really good films, which were clearly the result of intense hard work. Watching the films really set the bar high for us and demonstrated the quality of film that we should strive to produce. It was also very beneficial for us to get ideas for our own film products.

Once that finished we were on our way to experience Escapism at Strike QV. Escapism is an experience that requires a lot of teamwork, strategy and logical thinking. Escapism involved solving a series of puzzles to escape a room (or rooms) in less than 50 minutes. It is like a real-life version of the ‘Room Escape’ computer games. As well as being lots of fun, it was also really interesting to see how a new media form (gaming) had been converted into an old

media form (real-life interaction), when it usually happens the other way around. It was also very exciting when one of the teams escaped with 16 minutes to spare and got to have their photo added to the leaderboard!

After that, we were headed to the Melbourne Museum to view the Production Design Plans of the Top Screen finalists, as well as the best VCE photography and print products. It really showed us how much work is required to create a media product. It was also great to see that one of our 2014 graduates had their work displayed as one of the top Food Technology folios.

Overall the excursion was beneficial and gave us a lot of ideas about what we might do with our own productions.

By Daniel Vo (11G)

Media Excursion



Following their huge victory in the first round, SCHS’s fabulous intermediate baseball team faced some tough competition at the Western Metropolitan regional finals in Geelong on April 29th.

With the presence of perennial state champions Strathmore Secondary College in the division, all teams train hard and step it up for this day. Due to roster changes, we were using a new battery, and the boys were incredibly impressive in untried roles. All around super athlete and captain Matt Enriquez stepped in to take up the catching duties and did a superb job of catching strikes and high pitches and preventing passed balls.

Teams used to prolific base-stealing were hamstrung as Matt’s skilful takes prevented them the opportunity to run. Dulanaka took to the mound for the first time in competition and pitched several excellent innings, keeping the score well down and striking out several unsuspecting opposition players. His deceptive pitching motion fooled hitter after hitter.

Sehaj and Nick stepped in to spell him on the mound and demonstrated impressive speed and accuracy, and all three rotated to cover first base and keep runners honest.

The ever-reliable Lakshan looked after second, showing great intuition as he moved between covering gaps in the field and guarding the base. Rhushi showed his outstanding baseball brain at shortstop, always knowing exactly which base to throw to to force out the lead runner.

Hazaifa, on third, could be seen everywhere, chasing down foul balls, covering the base and fielding smoothly in the gap. Cricket imports Yannick, Vrund, and Sanjuna joined Sehaj to patrol the outfield, demonstrating fantastic team work and communication, so that whoever had the ball knew exactly where to throw it. Super-subs Victor, Leon and Bono helped out with timely at-bats and speedy pinch-running.

As well as taking on the catching duties, Matt led off the batting order and controlled communication on the field, constantly shouting out encouragement and instructions which greatly assisted all players. His heads up baserunning

and stealing earned SCHS several extra bases and served as a model for the newer players.

Matt took several for the team, finding himself hit by a pitch in three consecutive innings and gaining first base as a result. Never complaining and rapidly switching between his several tasks, Matt’s net value has climbed to the equivalent of approximately 250 values cards.

All of the players gained great experience with challenging at-bats against well-trained pitchers, with several getting hits and working the count to gain walks. Cleanup hitter Yannick did it again with an explosive, bases-clearing inside-the-park home run. In the end, SCHS was able to keep eventual finalists Grovedale to only a 6-1 scoreline and took it to Creekside, going down by only one run in a nail-biting 8-9 loss.

It has been wonderful working with this new crop of enthusiastic baseball players, and I’m very proud of what they have been able to achieve! Ms Fenby Baseball Teams Manager

Western Metro Region Intermediate Baseball Finals



Western Metropolitan Region Senior Boys Baseball Finals Fielding one of the strongest teams in recent years, the senior baseball boys competed in the Western Metropolitan Regional Finals on May 4th, missing out on progressing through to the state finals by the slimmest possible margin. Eventual winners Maribyrnong Sports Academy were so impressed by the SCHS team and the scare they gave them that after the game all of their players came out to shake hands with and congratulate our team – and coach . Another team asked hopefully if they could borrow several of our players for their own clash with MSA.

The undisputed highlights of the day were SCHS turning two spectacular double plays, a feat which other teams tried and fell well short of. The first was a Major League emulating 6-4-3 double play, with the shortstop tossing to second to get the force out, and second hurling the ball on to first, where Nipuna stretched out and cleanly took the ball, just beating the second runner. Gasps escaped from both dugouts as the play was turned successfully. In the second game, the boys demonstrated outstanding communication and knowledge of baseball’s tricky rules, leading to a catch-out-force-out double play as the hitter’s fly ball was caught and the fielders noticed the runner had come off second. The throw reached the base before the runner, leading again to two outs in one play.

Promoted to the senior roster, Year 10 students Heejae and Kyle deserve to be commended for playing at the two most important positions – pitcher and catcher – and showing great skill and composure. Heejae fanned almost 15 batters in an amazing display of pitching, and Kyle’s dependable glove prevented the opposition from stealing freely. Hitters used to making contact could only watch as Heejae’s strikes sailed past them and safely into Kyle’s glove. Pramukha did an indispensable job of supporting Kyle as back-up catcher and helping warm up the pitchers, and Mario and Sahan were on hand to spell Heejae on the mound with lightning fast pitching, and speedy Navid was always ready to pinch run the catcher. Captain Nipuna put on an exceptional display at first base, cleanly catching balls to prevent runners reaching and taking a spectacular catch of a careening foul ball which bounced from his glove but was taken in his bare hand to great applause. Tristan and Narlon did an incredible job at second and shortstop, communicating and combining beautifully to cover the base, field the gap and turn plays. Tiger, Henry and Mario took turns at the hot corner, keeping a careful eye on the runners and chasing down balls in foul territory. With their powerful arms, Abhi, Kritik, Rhys and Ravee patrolled the outfield and rapidly fired balls back to the cut-off men.

Coming up against some highly experienced pitching and outstanding catching, the boys worked their at-bats

carefully and many were able to reach base. Lefthanders Rhys and Kritik anchored different ends of the lineup, confusing the catchers. Abhi combined his goal of tiring out the pitcher and knocking out opposition players on the adjacent field by sending several foul balls flying over the fence, waiting for the right pitch. Clever base-stealing allowed runners to get into scoring position. Despite one of their pitchers hurling strikes at a record pace, Grovedale were no match for SCHS, going down by five runs in the first game. Then we met MSA. This was the most even game imaginable, with at-bats going strike out for strike out.

Finally MSA broke through with 2 hard earned runs which just beat the throws to home. SCHS answered with one of our own, set up by some superb stealing. Unluckily, a second run was disallowed with a questionable tag out at home plate. With MSA leading 2-1, the game went into the 4th, where SCHS broke it open, adding two more runs. MSA were unable to respond in the bottom of the 4th, and down to their final out and strike (as the hitter was on a 3-2 count), the umpire inexplicably declared time and wiped out the entire 4th inning, stating that as the top and bottom of the 4th inning were unfinished when the clock struck twelve, he would revert to the 3rd inning score and award MSA the win. This sent them straight through to State, as although they still needed to play the final against the winners of the other half of the draw, Strathmore, not only did Strathmore only have eight players, but they had to forfeit the tournament due to breaking a player rule. Despite the devastating news of missing out on State by a single strike, the boys demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, openly congratulating MSA and moving on to cheer on the SCHS girls in their softball game. This tournament showed the western region what SCHS is capable of, and we will be back to contend next year! Ms Fenby Baseball Teams Manager

Western Metro Region Senior Boys Baseball Finals



6pm – 9pm12-17 years onlyFood and beverages provided. Halal food and vegetarian options

FRIDAY NIGHT EVENTS

$2 Entry

NIGHT!including DJ

Youth Resource Centre - 86 Derrimut Rd Hoppers Crossing

FRIDAY 22 MAY

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