Calendar dates
Term 1, 2014
Student Reports Go Live on Compass - Tuesday 25 March
College Council - Wednesday 26 March
Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews - Tuesday 1 April
Student Reports Go Live on Compass - Tuesday 25 March
College Council - Wednesday 26 March
Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews - Tuesday 1 April
Some useful links
Dear all, welcome to week 8 Term 1.
Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated,
although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were
obvious influences. "When I made that decision," she said later, “I
knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.”
Mr Heaton
NEVR Jazz Workshop
Students were also fortunate on the day to have
sectional tutoring on their instruments from a number of specialist teachers
who were there to assist. We are all looking forward to the next rehearsal at
Blackburn High School this coming Sunday and an absolutely amazing stage band
for the NEVR concert.
Cheryl Morrow, Instrumental Music Manager
Taking A Stand
Friday 21 March was the National Day of
Action against Bullying and Violence and the theme for the day at FHC was "Taking a stand together". At lunchtime we gave free giveaways and painted
a mural. Nearly 100 students painted their hands and placed a handprint on the mural to write the words, ‘Take a
Stand’. The mural will be mounted in the courtyard as a sign of our stance
against bullying.
Potential Concern With Social Media Site Qooh.me
There is a social media site called Qooh.me, designed to let people ask anonymous questions online to other users. There is no age restriction. Children’s profiles sit alongside adult profiles and there is no log-in required to ask questions. All you need to know is the person’s username. I cannot speak enough of the dangers of Qooh.me. Any platform that allows any person to anonymously post anything about anyone, or to anyone, is cause for concern. Can I please ask that you have a discussion with your son or daughter regarding Qooh.me and please advise them to delete it from any technology they possess. Any site that protects potential predators cannot achieve any positive outcomes. Therefore, it is the opinion of the School, that this is not a suitable site for students to be accessing.
I had the pleasure of speaking to the students, parents
and staff at assembly this week about our College value, inclusion. Please find
below an extract from my speech "Forest hill college is the sum of its
parts. We are the sum of 32 different nationalities, many different learning
styles, hair colours, eye colours, likes and dislikes, sexual orientation,
abilities and interests. But we come together as one and stand underneath our
college values to form a community. In fact a learning community.
A community is a
group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting
with each other. It is a unified body of individuals. A learning community is a
place where a group of people who share common emotions, values or beliefs, are
actively engaged in learning together from each other. At FHC, we are unified
by our learning culture and our effective learning behaviours.
Some history on segregation and exclusion.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African
American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to
go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in
the American quest for freedom and equality.
She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10
seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a
white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of
segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white
section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. Mrs. Parks, who
was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.
She was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of
segregation, known as “Jim Crow laws.” Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and
thus formally challenged the legality of segregation.
Apartheid was an official policy of racial segregation
formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal,
and economic discrimination against nonwhites. It was a policy or practice of
separating or segregating groups. On the 11th of February 1990, upon release
from prison for 27 years for his political beliefs, Nelson Mandela dismantled this practice.
Let's now look at what inclusion is not!
Inclusion is not being a bystander when others are harassing
or bullying.
Inclusion is not responding inappropriately to a post online that harms
or ridicules another person.
Inclusion is not excluding others.
Inclusion is not merely the absence of bullying, it is
also the way of behaving that looks to include people, not leave them isolated.
Not everyone has to be friends with everyone, but we are one community. When
you wear our logo you are one of us and we expect that you conduct your self in
accordance with our values.
Inclusion is supporting someone when they are alone,
including them in a group, showing they matter and they belong. It is taking
the time to ask how they are, and waiting to hear their response. It is saying
hello, rather than walking past and avoiding eye contact because they are not seen
to be cool.
I have a saying, everyone, every day. That means at FHC
everyone, every day matters. I try to say hello to everyone I walk past. I want
you to feel like you belong at our College.
Today we celebrate the value of inclusion at our College.
We take a stand against every form or act of bullying, separation or exclusion
and reach out to each individual to say we love you, we care for you, you
matter deeply to us, you are one of us and together, we are Forest Hill
College.
Pi Day
On Friday the 14 of March we celebrated Pi day. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and is commonly
approximated to 3.14 (which is how Americans write the 14th of March
as a date). Students competed in a race around a circle, had a trivia quiz
about Pi, and listened to Doctor Heiko Dietrich from Monash University (Doctor
of Mathematics!) tell us some fascinating facts about Pi. We also had a
competition to see how many digits of Pi students could remember, and Daniel
S won with a massively impressive 140 digits- Doctor Dietrich was very
impressed! At the end of celebrations we watched the date and time click over
to 3.14 1:59.26 which are the first 7 digits of Pi, and completed a fun
afternoon! Thankyou to Mrs Veljanovski, Mrs Romanis, Ms Hee and Ms Horton for
your help!
International Student Welcome Event
On 19 March 2014, five International Students were
invited to attend the International Student Welcome Event at Government House. This
wonderful event offered them an opportunity to get to know new International Students this year from other schools and to listen to the successful stories
from Victorian International School Student Awards Achievers. Five boys also
had a chance to talk to Minister for Education and took a photo with him.
NEVR Jazz Workshop
On Wednesday of this week 4 of our senior students
attended the first session of the NEVR jazz workshop with the renowned Yamaha
artist Greg Spence. This workshop will culminate in a big stage band to perform
at the 2014 Youth Concert ‘Back in the Groove’ to be held at Hamer Hall on
Wednesday May 21 where a number of our other
Instrumental Music students will also be participating in ensembles such
as the Rookie Band, Concert Band and Choir.
The sounds coming out of the first rehearsal of the
Jazz workshop were very impressive and the students learnt a lot from rehearsing
with Greg Spence. Greg has had a wealth of performing experience both in
Australia and internationally including playing on ‘Dancing with the Stars
through 14 seasons and performing alongside Shirley Bassey, Michael Buble,
James Morrison, Hugh Jackman, Jerry Lewis, and Wayne Newton.Students were also fortunate on the day to have
sectional tutoring on their instruments from a number of specialist teachers
who were there to assist. We are all looking forward to the next rehearsal at
Blackburn High School this coming Sunday and an absolutely amazing stage band
for the NEVR concert.Cheryl Morrow, Instrumental Music Manager
Taking A Stand
In our Assembly, we were thrilled to watch and learn
from our talented staff who helped to portray the impact of bullying. The
Academy Award went to Mr Cutler for his portrayal of a bullied individual. Other
notable performances came from Ben. Mr Blowers, Ms Peterson, Ms Gell and Ms
Seymour.
One of the key messages of the address was to
bystanders. Bystanders are an audience for bullies and include those who cheer
the person bullying, stand and watch in silence, laugh or walk away from a
situation or forward an offensive image, post or message to someone.
In contrast active bystanders are those who say
something to the person bullying to stop them. They are confident to take safe
and effective action and ensure a greater possibility that bullying will stop.
An active bystander will use words and/or actions that can help someone who is
being bullied.
Take a look at the app or go to bullyingnoway.gov.au/ for advice and tips about
resilience and affirmative action.
Potential Concern With Social Media Site Qooh.me
There is a social media site called Qooh.me, designed to let people ask anonymous questions online to other users. There is no age restriction. Children’s profiles sit alongside adult profiles and there is no log-in required to ask questions. All you need to know is the person’s username. I cannot speak enough of the dangers of Qooh.me. Any platform that allows any person to anonymously post anything about anyone, or to anyone, is cause for concern. Can I please ask that you have a discussion with your son or daughter regarding Qooh.me and please advise them to delete it from any technology they possess. Any site that protects potential predators cannot achieve any positive outcomes. Therefore, it is the opinion of the School, that this is not a suitable site for students to be accessing.
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