Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Tuesday 6th November

Final Date for submission of Semester 2 work (Year 10 & 11) Classes
Wednesday 14th November

VCAL Presentation Night

Thursday 15th November

I S SUE 15

WORTH READING
www.wrc.vic.edu.au

2 ND N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2

YEAR 12 CELEBRATION DAY!

A Proud History, a Bright Future

PRINCIPALS REPORT
Team Leaders 2013 Leading Teacher interview processes have been completed and Team Leader positions for each year level for 2013 have been nalised. Next year the Team Leaders for each year level will be:

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS REPORT Reections

Each year, the third week of Term 4 is an equally exciting yet somehow sad moment in the life of a secondary college. It is the week when we farewell our Year 12 students and send them off to continue their life journey beyond the comfort and structure of compulsory education. This years class of 2012 have been a fantastic group of students and have been positive role models to all students throughout the year. The four school leaders - Will Blake, Kirsten Houghton, Vanessa Harkess and Troy Webb have met with the Principal every Tuesday at recess to discuss student issues and the progress of the Year 12s. Among other things, the four leaders initiated a roster of Year 12 students to conduct yard supervision at lunchtimes to help make the schoolyard clean and enjoyable for all students. On Thursday 24th October, the Year 12 students came to school for the last day. As tradition dictates, they were dressed in costume and were treated to a cooked breakfast put on by the VCE team, before attending a farewell assembly. The Year 12s are to be congratulated for behaving in a respectful and mature manner while enjoying their last day throughout the morning and I wish them all the very best for their exams and beyond.

Year 7: Jai Law Year 8: Kate Boyer Year 9: Sam Richards Year 10: John Gilcrist Year 11: Eric Bott Year 12: Graeme Miller
Debate Win Last night I was pleased to be able to attend Warragul Masonic Lodge for the rst debate between the Warragul Masonic Lodge and Warragul Regional College. WRC was represented very ably by Angela Aitken, Becky Fullard and Molly Bridge, Year 9 students. The topic was Violent video games and movies encourage anti-social behaviour. Our team was allocated the negative side and did a mighty job of convincing the adjudicators of the merits of their case. In the end it was a narrow victory to the girls from WRC. On behalf of all involved can I thank class teacher, Kay Frost for organising the debate, Rod Willams for adjudicating and Bill Dye and Ross Dawson from the Masons who initiated the idea of this debate. We hope that this debate can become the rst of many between our two organisations. Exams Students in all year levels will be involved in exams this year. The exam dates for each year level will be: Year 12: 1st November 24th November (Warragul Soccer Club Rooms) Year 10 and 11: 19th November 28th November (WRC Hall) Year 7- 9: 4th December-7th December (English, Maths, Humanities and Science) Headstart All current Year 10 and 11 students will be required to attend the Headstart program which will run from Monday 3rd December until Friday 7th of December. VCAL students will not be required to attend Headstart. Further details on these dates will be mailed to families by next fortnight. Rob Juratowitch Principal

Student Wellbeing As I mentioned in the last edition of Worth Reading, I have been very impressed with the work of the four trainee education support staff employed by the school to assist students with special needs in class. Tom, Rowena, Aaron and Tom say their work is very rewarding and from the schools perspective, they provide invaluable support to the overall learning growth of the students they work with. Warragul Regional College is now accepting expressions of interest from suitable young people interested in completing a gap year working as teachers aide in 2013. Trainees work ve days per week and are provided time at school and support to complete their Certicate III (Education Support). Anyone interested in this opportunity should contact Warragul Regional College Assistant Principal (Student Services) for information regarding the application process. Applications for the traineeships close on Friday 23rd November 2012. Student Learning On Thursday 18th October the Year 7, 8 and 9 students in the Advanced Curriculum and Enrichment (ACE) program organised and ran an exhibition night for parents and staff. The students did a fantastic job in presenting some of the learning they have done throughout the year and explaining how they have incorporated and focussed on critical thinking, collaborative learning, creativity and caring for others into their learning. The success of the program has meant that at each Year level, there is a waiting list of students wanting to get in to the program for 2013. In line with the expectations outlined when students enrolled in the program, over the next two weeks every student will have their place in the ACE program reviewed for the coming year. The review process will include consideration of GPA results, academic data, progress and semester reports and an interview for some students. If an interview is required, students and parents will be notied within the next two weeks. Mike Shone Assistant Principal
2

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS REPORT

End Of Year 12 Classes! Wednesday 24th October saw the last day of ofcial Year 12 classes and Thursday 25th was the customary celebration day. Historically our students have appreciated the celebration day and have shown the utmost respect for the school and themselves in the manner in which they conduct themselves at this time of the year. Plenty of schools suffer needless vandalism and many students end their schooling on a very sour note as a result. Our students were clearly informed of the consequences of any similar behaviour. Although for VCE students there is still considerable effort needed in preparation for their exams it was good to take some time out to acknowledge the end of their secondary schooling as a whole group. I am very pleased to report that our students were very well behaved and they enjoyed the mornings festivities. We wish the VCE students the very best for their upcoming exams and encourage them to focus their effort over the next few weeks to be fully prepared. The campus will be open to year 12 students for study purposes and staff will be available for support as needed. We wish the class of 2012 all the very best for the future and look forward to celebrating their achievements this year in VCE and VCAL at the Valedictory Dinner on 23rd November. Teachers will be available to students right up until each exam is completed, students are encouraged to make full use of the support offered by teachers even after ofcial classes nish ensuring they are as well prepared for exams as possible. Families are also encouraged to be as supportive and understanding as possible during a time when many students may feel under greater pressure than usual. Any students or families concerned by how they are coping are encouraged to contact the school for extra support. Les Ponton Assistant Principal

STUDENT UNION ELECTIONS

Our school community was recently treated to a political campaign for Student Union Presidency. Since the early 1990s, the Student Union Presidents have been elected by the student body and have taken on the dual role of representing the school as School Captains in the public domain and running the week-to-week operations of the Student Union. Candidates were interviewed at the start of the process by administration representatives and a panel from the Student Union. Once given approval, candidates were free to put up posters, meet and greet and generally get their message out there, which culminated in a very entertaining round of speeches in front of a specially convened assembly. The following students bravely presented themselves and their ideas to the 750 plus audience: Brock Glover, Brandon Carpanedo, Jake Borsato, Jacqueline Kleinitz, Kaitlyn Hedrick, Maddison Huysman, Maddison Dalgleish, Aaron McDonald, Zac Regester, Carlie Wooster. The candidates had an extra challenge to navigate through on this occasion, because they also had to pitch their message to the teaching staff of the college, who were now also entitled to vote. This is the rst year this has happened; or certainly the rst since the SRC was reborn as the Student Union in the amalgamation of High School and Tech/ WSC in 1993. This was a decision taken by the Student Union and seems to have worked well to reect the growing prole required by the School Captains as representatives of the entire school community. As always, there was variety and originality in the speeches, which ranged from roving mike forays into the crowd, dramatic monologues, Gangnam- style inspired morph dancing and exhortations to join the Wolf Pack. (A clever rework of a previous speech from past President James Harkess.) In the end, a close contest saw the following candidates successful in taking on the roles of School Captains: Jake Borsato, Jacqui Kleinitz, Kaitlyn Hedrick and Brandon Carpanedo. The school wishes them well in their demanding roles and looks forward to supporting them as they make their contributions to the life of the school. We would also like to thank all the others who ran in the election, and hope that the process and experience has been valuable in your personal skills development.

Mark Braddick

CHAPPYS CHAT
For the past few terms we have been running an Anti Bullying Program with all the year eight students. Its been fascinating dealing with this issue which has and is impacting every area of our lives. I suggested to the students that when we think of the term Bullying we straight away default to the negative about this behavior which stands to reason. So when we run programs or talk about the issue or run a survey on it, their natural thought is, here we go again, we are going to look at this negative stuff again, as if they are in trouble. My challenge to them and to you is why is it that we tend to focus on the base nature of humanity and not the higher nature we have. All the bad stuff we do is focused on. Just read a paper, watch the news, go on facebook, read the gossip mags or play Xbox you will get what I mean. We set up programs as a knee jerk reaction to deal with the bad stuff around us. When we focus on the negatives we tend to get the negatives in return. What if we gave more time to our higher nature? You know all that good stuff we do such as generosity, kindness, thankfulness, love, cheering people on, supporting the needy, mending the broken hearted, developing good character etc. Wow, when you think about it, the list is huge! What would our society look like if we heard more, read more, told more, and even got involved with more good news stories? You may say its an impossible dream. When I raised this with my students they all, bar none, said they wanted to live in a community like that but believed it to be too hard to reach because of the ugly side of our nature. Then my challenge to them as with us all is that it starts with the individual and every individual living out of their higher nature will eventually impact the whole. With regards to what we teach across the board, maybe we should focus on reinforcing what a positive, uplifting, wholesome life and community looks like. Chappy Lee.

PARENTS & FRIENDS

The second hand text books sale will be held on Thursday 6th December 2012. Grading, pricing and cataloguing of books will be done on Tuesday 4th December to Wednesday 5th December 2012 in Room E2. As there is a great deal of work involved in preparing the books for sale, Parents and Friends welcome anyone who is willing to assist on these days. Volunteers for helping may contact Louise Young on 5626 1474 or 0418 531 445. Parents and Friends Club arranges the sale so that parents have the opportunity to sell text books and to save money when purchasing books for next year. A 20% commission is charged which is handed on to the school for the benet of the students.

End of Year Dates for Uniform and Second Hand Text Book Sales Are:
Second Handbooks for Sale: Second Hand books for sale need to be handed into the Front Ofce by the 30th of November 2012. All Books must include a student detail form available from the front Ofce. Uniform Shop Open: Wednesday 5th December 2012 - 12.30 pm to 4pm Tuesday 11th December 2012 - 8am to 10am ORIENTATION DAY Uniform Shop NOT Open Wednesday 12th December 2012 Wednesday 19th December 2012 Secondhand Text Book Sale Thursday 6th December 2012 In Room E2 (Corridor left of the Uniform bookshop) Second Hand Text Books Only 9am to 1pm Second Hand Text Books & Uniform 6pm to 8pm Orientation Day 11th Tuesday December 2012 Uniform Shop Open 8am to 10am Book Collection Wednesday 23th January 2013 Uniform Shop Open 10am to 2pm

Volunteers are most welcome! Please call Louise Young - President Phone: 5626 1474 Mobile: 0418 531 445

YEAR 10 MATTERS
Families of Year Ten students should now be aware of the end of year arrangements for their child. These matters were highlighted to students at an assembly last week. The important dates for Year Ten students during this term are: November 14: Last day for submission of Work Requirements. November 15: Year 10 Formal November 16: Last day for scheduled Year 10 classes November 19-28: End of Year Exams November 29-30: MIP (Managed Individual Pathways) interviews December 3-7: Headstart It is worth noting that leading into the end of Semester 1, the GPA class average for all Year 10 students was almost 37 an excellent result. At the end of Semester, this average had declined to 33.5. At present, the average again sits at 37, so students have been made aware that the completion of work and preparation for exams are vital to maintaining their average. All families will receive a notice of an interview time of 30 minutes for the MIPS interviews to be held on November 29-30. This is an important step in the process to ensure all students have been allocated to the best course to match the career pathway, and a chance to reect on the pathways prior to the course selection being nalized. Students are not required at school during the exam and MIPs interviews unless they have a scheduled activity. Rooms will be made available to students during this time for study purposes. The nal day for VCAL students for this year is November 16, provided all the required competencies have been completed. Teachers will notify students if there needs to be further activities to complete competencies. If incomplete, VCAL students will be required to attend school each day after November 16 until the competencies have been satised. All families for Year Ten will have received a notice regarding the formal from their child. Students will be dismissed at 1.30 on November 15 to prepare for the event. It is expected that all students attend school on Friday, November 16. This is an important period for all Year Ten students. It is important that all students remain vigilant with their studies to complete the required work in a timely manner. We advise students that are experiencing difculty to seek assistance at the earliest possible time so as assistance can be provided either at home or at school. Eric Bott Year 10 Team Leader

MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER - CUP EVE ARRANGEMENTS

On the Monday 5 November (the day before Melbourne Cup day holiday) the College will conduct a special program for the school day. The College understands that many families take the opportunity to have some family and holiday time Period 1 Class 1 Year 7-9 Sport (Hall) Period 2 Computer Activities (D1) before the rush of Christmas. The Colleges experience in the past is that less than 30% of our students attend on this day. This makes it impossible to conduct a normal school day as too many students miss important lessons. Period 3 Movie (Drama Room) Period 4 Movie (Drama Room) Period 5 Environmental (Tyson Plaza)

Class 2 Year 7-9

Environmental (Tyson Plaza)

Sport (Hall)

Movie (Drama Room)

Movie (Drama Room)

Computer Activities (D1)

Class 3 Year 7-9

Computer Activities (D1)

Environmental (Tyson Plaza)

Movie (Drama Room)

Movie (Drama Room)

Sport (Hall)

Senior Students (Year 10 & 11)

Study Hall (Library)

Study Hall (Library)

Study Hall (Library)

Study Hall (Library)

Study Hall (Library)

Year 10 and 11 students will complete study sessions, which will be supervised by appropriate staff. Year 12 students will already be completing their VCE exams.
5

Normal school uniform applies, however we request that Year 7-9 students bring a hat and runners.

CA C

RY

OF 1

9EDU 11

- 201 CATIO

N 1

19

Community Achievement Respect Effort

Quote of the week

Go big or go home. Because its true. What do you have to lose? Eliza Dushku

11

-2 0 11

E E E E E GE O L L L L L LN ILE TL O

DIARY DATES
Thurs 1-22 Nov Year 12 Exams

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Mon

Thur-Fri

Mon-Fri

Tues

Thur

MonThur

Fri

Mon

CE NT

EN

WORLD CHALLENGE COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA DINNER

On Saturday the 13th October the World Challenge Costa Rica/Nicaragua team hosted a Central American inspired dinner that was attended by over 100 people. The team have been fundraising money towards their trip for the last year and a half and this was the last major fundraiser and celebration the team will have before they depart on their month long challenge on the 29th November. Whilst in Nicaragua the team will be staying with a rural Nicaraguan community, outside of Leon, for 7 days where they will be working with the local Nuevos Horizontes de Miramar School to paint classrooms, storage rooms and the local clinic and also repair and renovate tables and chairs. Money from Saturday nights fundraiser will go towards purchasing school and sporting supplies for the school and its students. Challengers were supported by family, friends and staff who attended the dinner and were given an entertaining and insightful speech by assistance principal, Mike Shone, who has spent time volunteering and travelling around Central America. His handy tips will certainly be very worthwhile! The night could not have been made a success without the enormous amount of organization, help and cooking provided by Helen Clough and Ian Good who gave up so much of their time. Thanks also go to the Saunders family for providing beautiful decorations for the evening. A rafe held on the evening was a great success and could not have been possible without the generous donations from the following local businesses:

6 Nov

Melbourne Cup Public Holiday Final date for submission of Semester 2 work (Year 10 & 11)

14 Nov

15 Nov

VCAL Presentation Night

19-28 Nov

Year 10 & 11 End of Year Exams

29-30 Nov

Year 10 & 11 MIPS Interviews Year 7-9 Exams

3-7 Dec

VCE 2013 Headstart (Commence 2013 classes)

11 Dec

Orientation Day

13 Dec

Year 7-9 Whole School Activity Day

17-20 Dec

Student Activities

14 Dec

Semester reports mailed to parents

17 Dec

VCE results available to Year 12 students

P.O. Box 213 | 55 Burke Street Warragul 3820 | Ph: (03) 5623 9900 | Fax: (03) 5623 4473 | Web: www.wrc.vic.edu.au E-mail: warragul.co@edumail.vic.gov.au | A.B.N. 19 320 417 831 | CRICOS Provider Code: 00861K