Northcote High School

NORTHCOTE HIGH SCHOOL Text only Newsletter Vol 8, No 5, March 21, 2005

School Contacts Details

General office 9488 2300

Fax 9488 2399

Student Absence line 9488 2330

Student Absence email [email protected]

Website www.nhs.vic.edu.au Email [email protected]

Email subscribe to Newsletter [email protected]

Address St. Georges Road, Northcote, 3070

School Diary this month

 · Mar 24 Yr 7&8 Sports day · Mar 25 Good Friday Holiday · Mar 27 China tour returns · Mar 28 Easter Monday Holiday · Mar 29-Ap 1, 7H Boho Camp Italian Tour departs (to Ap 14) · Mar 30 Yr 9/10 Sports day Parent Teacher Meeting, 2-5.30, 6.10-8pm · Mar 31 Yr9-12 Tennis VSSSA Swimming carnival · April 1, School ends 2.00 pm TERM TWO · April 18 School Commences · April 20-22 Music Tour · April 22 Athletics carnival · April 27 Open Day School dismissed at 12.40 pm · April 28 Northern Zone Golf · May 2 District Athletics May 3-6 Yr 9/10 Surf Camp

 Mar 30 Yr 7 Sports day Parent Teacher Meeting, 2-5.30, 6-8pm  Mar 31 VSSSA Swimming carnival April 1 School ends 2.00 pm

See our sister school web site for photos of the China Tour: www.hbyz.cn

Main headline story: Students rally behind Rita On Friday 18th of March the school held a gold coin colection out of uniform day to raise money for Rita Mankowska of year 10. Rita has been a superstar in girls Soccer leading our Year 8 girls in 2003 to a State final win.

Now she has been selected in the Women’s Victorian Open age team to tour China in early Term 2. We are so proud of Rita and wish her every success in her great Chinese experience. Mr. Craig Price, Sports Coordinator Thanks everyone (teachers and students) for your contribution. A little bit of money goes a long way and I appreciate every cent! Rita Mankowska Parent Teacher Meeting Arrangements Wednesday March 30th 2.00 - 5.30, 6.10 – 8.00 p.m.

The school’s first major PARENT TEACHER MEETING will be held in the last week of term. This is the chance for parents and teachers to discuss student progress. The afternoon and evening session will again operate on an APPOINTMENT system. This system helps ensure fair access for everyone on the night, and helps to reduce the long wait some parents and guardians used to experience. How does the system work? Students will be given an appointment sheet on or about March 21st, to book up times for their families to see teachers. Individual teachers also make the booking on their own sheet. Appointments can be made during class time. Arrangements for the day

School is dismissed at 12.40 pm on Wednesday March 30th. School starts at usual time on Thursday March 31st. Interpreters Interpreters who usually attend speak Chinese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Somali. Would you like an interpreter for another language? Please let us know!! Students needing an Interpreter should book this with Mr. Murphy after they have made their teacher appointments. Collecting reports in advance If you wish to collect your son or daughter’s report in advance, these may be collected on Tuesday March 29th, from Coordinators, either in person or via the student with a note from home. International Women’s Day Concert On March 8th, Northcote High School celebrated International Women’s Day with gusto. International Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world since 1908, in some countries its even a public holiday. At Northcote, all female staff wore the IWD ribbon (green white and purple) and celebrated an IWD morning tea. At lunchtime approximately 280 students were entertained by our talented female students at an IWD concert. Performers included Lisa Lavaro, Emily and Jessica Aitken and the Year 10 Aeroskools team. Ms Andrea Grealy Harmony Week message from the Premier

In 2005, Victoria once again leads the way in celebrating cultural diversity and fostering community harmony.

For over one and a half centuries, this State has been a prime destination for people from around the world. Whether it be the lure of the goldfields, the promise of refuge from persecution, or the chance to build a new life with greater opportunities, Victoria has established a reputation as a society promoting a sense of belonging and acceptance to individuals and groups from every background.

The fruits of that reputation can be seen in a population that today comprises people from more than 200 nations, speaking over 150 languages and celebrating around 100 faiths. Its influence can be seen in our landscape and architecture, heard in our streets, markets and concert halls, and tasted in our homes and restaurants. From business and politics, to media and fashion, to sport and the arts, cultural diversity has opened our minds, expanded our experiences, broadened our perspectives, and touched our hearts.

Sadly, this has not prevented some Victorians encountering racism, which undermines the principles of a just and equitable democratic society which we pride and cherish.

Celebrate our Cultural Diversity Week, which encompasses the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, affirms our belief in the opportunity for all citizens to freely express their cultural heritage.

From 17 to 23 March 2005, communities of all shapes and sizes will showcase the wealth of international cultures and heritages that has so enriched our lives.

I encourage everyone to embrace this opportunity to share in the cultural traditions of our fellow citizens and advance our united goal of a cohesive, inclusive, and harmonious Victoria.

HON STEVE BRACKS MP Premier of Victoria

Tax File Numbers (TFN) The Tax Office, with the co-operation of schools, offers secondary students the opportunity to receive a TAX FILE NUMBER (TFN) after filing the application form with their Year 9 Commerce Teacher. Students may need a TFN to apply for youth allowance or for a part-time and holiday employment. The application form requires information such as student’s name, address and date of birth. The class teacher and the school administration then certify the application. This means that the student does not need to attend the Tax Office with original proof of identity documents, or send those documents to the Tax Office. This is a voluntary program and is offered as a service to make it easier for students to obtain a TFN. If you have any further questions please contact Margaret Sinclair (Commerce Co- ordinator or phone the Tax Office on 13 28 61 Ms Margaret Sinclair

March Sports update

Cricket We had a great year but it suddenly all ends. We had 6 teams play off in 4 team - Zone round robins. We were very competitive in all games but didn't manage to win through to the State finals. I must comment on the great training sessions we had, the sportspersonship and attitude shown by our students. Losing graciously is difficult but our students were to be admired. The experiences and the journey we have been on has been a very enjoyable and rewarding one Mr.Price and Mr. Martin (Sport Coordinators) Zone Swimming - Friday 18th March On going to print our 35 strong swimming squad were heading off to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. A great achievement to all the studentswho made the team, many having their first swim ever at this great venue. The experience of diving into the water in a race here is a great opportunity for any mortal being. Swimmers who have won here before include Ben Walton-Healey and Lewin Eddy. Winners progress onto the State VSSSA Sporting Dates for the rest of Term 1 Several changes have been made recently and should be noted by the school community. Tuesday 22/3 Year 7 & 8 Baseball and Softball, Year 8 Volleyball Thursday 24/3 Year 7 & 8 Tennis, Year 7 Volleyball Wednesday 30/3 Year 9/10 Softball, Volleyball Thursday 31st March Years 9/10 and 11/12 Tennis, VSSSA Swimming

Northcote High School—a Thai perspective

What are the advantages for a Thai English group coming to visit this school? Answer—Observing, as a team, allows us to share views regarding class room organisation, teaching techniques and learning activities. What are the benefits for our students? Answer—As a result of the observation program, we have different strategies, methodologies, materials and use of technology to model. The knowledge we gained from our visit will be most beneficial to our teaching in Thailand. What was our experience at Northcote High School? Answer-Being warmly welcomed by your Principal, Gail Davidson and her staff. We were also most impressed by the warmth and kindness that exists between teachers and students. We noticed that students were lively, friendly and responsible. Thankyou! Thai English Teacher Group 1

Rock Eisteddfod—Help wanted We are looking for anyone who has experience with the projection of images onto a cyclorama. This is a new technical development for the Rock Eisteddfod 2005. We’d like to give it a go with the help of someone more experienced. If you have experience or know of someone that does, please contact us at the school as soon as possible. Many Thanks, The Rock Eisteddfod Team Ms Melanie Bingham & Ms Stacey Willaton.

An X-Factor star in the making! Jack Byrnes finished in the top 5 in Channel 10’s new talent show “The X Factor”. Jack, now in Year 11, has been at Northcote since Year 7. He auditioned for the show along with 1000s of hopefuls. Unfortunately he just missed out on the live arena shows. We wish him well for his future career in the entertainment industry. The school also congratulates Alex Cappelli, former student of the school, for his outstanding supporting actor role in the new film “Hating Alison Ashley”. The film is based on the book by Robert Klein and also stars Delta Goodrem and Saskia Burmeister. Also performing at the moment is former Northcote teacher Anne Wood, who still has a leading tole in “Mamma Mia!”, at Her Majesty’s from March 10th . 2005 Aeroskools competition preparation The Northcote High School aerobics team has started training for the Aeroskools Victorian championships. These will be held during term three. Girls will compete in teams of three to six girls and perform a choreographed aerobics routine against other schools in the state. Last year two teams made it through to the National championships in Sydney, so hopefully it will be another successful year for Northcote. Training is every Wednesday after school. Ms Sophie Tayton Extracts from our Annual Report, 2004

Every year, every Government school completes an Annual report, providing statistics and comments on school achievement in a number of areas and activities. The Department of Education makes comparisons between each school and demographically similar schools (called the like school group or LSG) and with state averages or "means". As you can see, our report is very positive, with our school rating very well in all areas ! If you would like to read a full copy of our 2004 report, this can be provided on disk 1. AIM Test results, 2004 The Department of Education expects all Year 7 students to sit the AIM test (achievement Improvement Monitor) midway through the year. Here are our results from mid 2004; 1 a) AIM Reading Test

State Average for a secondary school 4.2 ( on a scale of 1-6, like the CSF levels)

Average for Like schools (LSG) 3.9 Northcote High School 4.3

1b) AIM Maths Test

State Average for a secondary school 4.0 ( on a scale of 1-6, like the CSF levels)

Average for LSG 3.8 Northcote High School 4.2 The AIM test is a measurement that tells us a little about students entering the school at Year 7. The following statistics tell us about students already in the school and how they are going.

2. CSF Assessments 2004 2 a) CSF Reading Year 8

State Average for a secondary school 4.80 ( on the CSF scale of 1-6)

Average for LSG 4.63 Northcote High School 4.89

2b) CSF Reading Year 10

Average for LSG 5.56 Northcote High School 5.83 2 c) CSF Maths (Algebra) Year 8

2 d) CSF Maths (Algebra) Year 10

The CSF information on the previous page is based on assessment by teachers throughout the year. Another way of looking at assessment is by looking VCE results. A study score is a mark out of 50 awarded at the end of a VCE Unit 3-4 study. 3. VCE Results 2004 3 a) % of Study scores over 40

State Average for a secondary school 6%

Average for LSG 2.3% Northcote High School 8%

3 b) Northcote's average study scores (sample) LSG English 30 25.2 Further Maths 28.5 23.8 Maths Methods 29.8 26.0 The Department of Education does not provide state averages for comparison of individual subject study scores, and of course, there are many other subjects offered at Northcote than the three listed above. These three subjects are used as a benchmark by the Department of Education in all Annual Reports. 4. School Retention rates 2004 Another important way of considering school achievement is to look at retention rates - that is whether students are staying at school. The Department of Education has a number of methods to measure this, we show just two of these here; 4 a) Northcote "Apparent" Retention Started Yr 7 1999 Finished Yr 12 2004 195 students 181 students 92% retention rate (LSG = 79%, State mean 76.9%)

Because this method doesn’t show whether some students leave and are replaced by others, the Department of Education also measures what percentage of the same Yr. 7 group stayed on to finish Yr. 12. The following figures show this; 4 b) Northcote "Real" Retention

Started Yr 7 1999 Finished Yr 12 2004

195 students 101 students 51.8% retention rate (LSG = 46.3%, State mean 49%) 5. Parent Opinion survey 2004 Every year the Department of Education runs a survey for each school with a random sample of parents. These results from various survey questions are grouped together and put on a scale score of 1-6. Here is part of our 2004 survey results compared to state averages. Parent views of Northcote State Average Quality of Teaching 4.93 4.71 Curriculum standards 5.13 4.93 Reporting and Feedback 5.15 5.00 Student Behaviour 5.15 5.07 School/Parent relations 5.06 5.00 General satisfaction 5.13 4.94

Prize winners for 2004 At special assemblies on March 8th, various prize winners from 2004 were acknowledged. These included

Pizzey Prizes – Dux of Year 12 – 2004 Selvam Sinnappan Lucy Du Special Academic Awards Year 12 2004 Nicholas Butera Barry Lo

Dux Year 11 2004 Ki Shiu Mohammed Owynut Dux of Year 11 Maths & Science (McAvoy Prize) Giang Nguyen Dux of Year 11 Commerce Yun-Jiao Chen Dux of Year 11 Humanities – Asha Ioculari Dux of Year 11 Arts Suzanne Nowara

Dux of Year 10 2004 Eleanor Lewis Michael Wong

Dux Year 9 2004 Kerryn Moore Zac Duthie Dux Year 8 2004 Tom Noonan Aviva Kidd Dux Year 7 2004 Nellie Montague Carlos Olson Ex-students’ Association Scholarships Year 12 Lakshmi Sinnappan James Borg

Year 11 Claire Miller Daniel Sagazio Year 10 Cassie Zurek David Stasiak Year 9 Sarah Adolph Jonathan Anderson Year 8 Melissa Fung Vernon Hu 2004 Yvonne Taylor Award Year 12 Breshna Wardak

Year 11 Hannah Lewis 2004 LOTE Awards Year 12 Italian - Nicholas Butera Year 11 Italian – Benedetta Fiorile, Nick Bendrups, Marija Dedic Chinese – Rini Angesti Year 10 Greek – Theo Daglas French – Eleonor Lewis, Kathryn Evans Italian – Hannah Lewis Chinese – Nathan Soo Year 9 Greek – Maria Demetriou, Bazil Sidiropoulos, Vicki Lambroglou, Adam Loucas French – Madeleine Turner, Joe Fayle Italian – Alana Malandra, Cristin Tunnicliffe, David Stasiak, Brendan Jeyendran Chinese – Tracy Sae Eaim Year 8 Greek – Maria Zarkordoulas, Pandora Sarakinis, Nick Stathopoulos French – Henry Dalgleish, Caroline Papik Italian – Jonathon Anderson, Erin Miller, Stephanie Panfilo, Rory Lewis, Grace Roberts Chinese – Aviva Kidd Year 7 Greek – Billy Kandris French – Thomas Dyson, Lucy Meaney Italian – Daniel De Vuono, Richard Elrachkidi, Julian Turner, Sophie Freeman Chinese – Alyson Ingle

Yr 9 Geography Excursion On Monday 7th March, 9C and 9I went on an excursion to the Port Phillip Bay region as part of their fieldwork studies for Geography. This is the first time Year 9 students have participated in an excursion of this type. The fieldwork requires students to collect data on a variety of coastal environments. The data collected forms the basis of their assignment work. Students investigated the impact of physical processes and human activities on the coastal environment. We travelled by coach to the Port Phillip Bay region stopping at Seaford, Red Bluff, Black Rock, Half Moon Bay and Sandringham. Students drew sketches of the coastal areas, some took photographs and they all observed various costal phenomena. Many students were amazed to see the coastal phenomena that we had discussed in class first hand at the various places we stopped. It was impressive to hear students identifying various coastal features with ease. The weather was perfect for the work we had to do– not too hot and not too cold. Students had both an enjoyable and educational experience. Ms. M Castles, Mr. W. Devine and Ms L. Saillard