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Principal’s Report
Happy Smiling Faces
……were the order of the day on Monday as the new captains for 2015 were announced. The selection process has been exhaustive, and the Year 11 group were quick to congratulate Isabella Fenton, Ebony Hotham, Jack Portegies and Olivia Sheehan.
All four have already spoken to the staff in their candidate’s speeches, and are confident, dedicated, articulate citizens. The four new captains will take on leadership roles almost straight away, including speaking at the Year 12 Farewell Assembly.
Speaking of Year 12
The Farewell Assembly will take place at 9.20am on Friday 19th September in our hall. The occasion is both a celebration and a farewell, and one for parents and families to make the effort to attend. Several prestigious awards will be presented at this assembly also.
Loving Those Exams
Year 11 commenced their yearly exams today, concluding their Preliminary HSC studies. As usual, there will be stories of triumph and also missed opportunity as a result. Just remember that the main reason for achieving is to be in every class, every day. There just is no substitute for this. HSC studies commence Day 1 Term 4, so enjoy the 2 week pause!
CKC Cup
Competition continues next Tuesday here at Kelso High Campus, with Canobolas Rural Technology High School visiting. The job is ahead of us to retain the cup, as a narrow loss to Cowra at Cowra means the result may be already in the frame. First and foremost however is the chance to compete and represent in a friendly day involving students we don’t know. Let’s enjoy the day.
BYOD
Stands for Bring Your Own Device, and is a phrase that will be common over the next year. Students, parents, staff and DEC experts are meeting this week to draft a policy for allowing students to have at their call a device to use in lessons when
P&C Committee Contacts 2014
President - Catherine Hale [email protected] Vice Presidents - Debbie Benham [email protected] Deb Hoban [email protected] Secretary - Fiona Howle [email protected] Treasurer - Tanya Pallier [email protected]
appropriate. The new classroom may have some students using pen and paper, others on tablets and some on laptops…but all doing the same work. The potential is for better engagement and a more collaborative classroom. A comprehensive policy and information package will be with families early in Term 4.
Travel safely these holidays, won’t you. It is a busy time of the year, especially around Bathurst.
Important Dates
September 8-19 Sept Preliminary Exams Year 11 12 Sept Japanese Excursion to Cowra 16 Sept CKC Cup – Canobolas HS at Kelso 17 Sept Volleyball Tournament 19 Sept Last day of term
October 6 October Public Holiday 7 October School Resumes 9 October CAPA Night 13 Oct-5 Nov HSC Exams 14 October WHS White Card Training 14 October Visual Art Enrichment Program 15 October SES Cadets to Chifley Dam 23 October Visual Art Enrichment Program 24 October Immunisations for Year 7 and 9 29 October Swan Lake Excursion to Sydney
DENISON COLLEGE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
KELSO HIGH CAMPUS
NEWSLETTER 11th September2014
Delivering excellence, innovation, opportunity and student success
Telephone: 6331 4544 email: [email protected] PO Box 499 Fax: 6332 1678 web: www.kelso-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Bathurst 2795 www.facebook.com/KelsoHigh
College Principal’s Report - September 2014
Future Directions
Interviews have been held and finalised at both campuses. These went extremely smoothly and I would like to acknowledge the work of Mrs Murphy and Ms Reid in managing this process. Thanks, also, to the many staff at both campuses who supported parents and students over the fortnight of interviews.
As always, it was wonderful having the opportunity to meet so many parents and to work together to help ensure that every child has the best possible transition action plan as they rapidly approach the conclusion of Year 10.
Transition Tuesday
Actually occurring over Tuesday 7th October and Friday 17th October of Week 1and 2 next term, this is the process at both campuses where Year 11 students are interviewed by the senior team to ensure that their HSC studies get off to a flying start.
Attendance and achievement during the Preliminary course are reviewed and each student’s pattern of study is checked against their HSC Course Confirmation Plan to ensure that they are on track to achieve their goals.
Where modifications are necessary, contact is made with parents to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding about any changes.
Kids Teaching Kids
Miss Townend and Miss Burt have been working hard with Year 7 and 8 students on this wonderful initiative as part of the college’s enrichment strategy. This project, which you may have seen advertised on television recently, focuses on sustainability as a project and giving students the knowledge and confidence to teach their peers.
The program started in Victoria and was initially designed for primary aged students. I believe that this is the first year that secondary students have been able to access the program.
I was able to sit in on sessions delivered by our students at Eglinton Public School on Tuesday 2nd September, and it was absolutely fantastic to see how excited our students were about teaching Year 6 students about biodiversity, hydroponics and the problems associated with introduced species. They were innovative and enthusiastic, and the Year 6 students were totally engaged in the lessons.
Visiting Author Inspires Students
In June, junior students from both campuses had the opportunity to attend a workshop with JC Burke, whose novel The Story of Tom Brennan won the 2006 CBC Book of the Year for Older Readers
and also appears on the current HSC English Prescribed Text List.
This workshop was highly-rated by students who attended, as was the session presented by the same author at the Central West HSC Seminar Day held at CSU on the following day.
These workshops gained national exposure in both the September 2014 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine and on the Education HQ website. Check out the story at: http://www.educationhq.com.au/news/11108/students-invigorated-by-a-visit-from-engaging-australian-author-jc-burke/
Craig Petersen College Principal
College Enrichment in Action
This term has seen a range of enrichment activities take place across both campuses of Denison College. Students from Years 7 to 9 have had access to new experiences beyond the classroom to expand and develop their skills.
Drama Video Conference
A group of enthusiastic Year 7 and 8 students tuned in to a video conference from the Sydney Opera House for an interactive drama workshop on 26 August. The students had access to a professional actor from Monkey Baa Theatre who introduced them to the Given Circumstances, one of the fundamentals to acting. After some fun warm up activities focusing on breathing, movement and voice, the students asked themselves three key questions – Who is my character? Where is my character? and What do they want? With this in mind, they acted out various scenarios. For some students this was their first drama experience, while others added to their repertoire. It was a fun morning for all involved and a great example for how technology can connect Denison College to experts and experiences.
Probus Debating
The college was lucky to receive an invitation from the Probus Club of Bathurst to put on a demonstration debate at their meeting on Wednesday 3 September. Four Year 9 students from each campus were selected to take part – Emily Geerkens, Mark Day, Chris Peachey and Lachlan Smith from Kelso and Grace Finlayson, Gunnar Scott, Aiden Carstens and Sourin Sadrzadeh from Bathurst. The eight students gathered at Bathurst High Campus for a day of training with former Kelso student and newly qualified teacher Rohan Fahey. During the day they formed cross-campus teams and worked on developing their debating techniques. The following day at Bathurst Panthers Club the students debated a thought-provoking topic: Should voluntary euthanasia be legalised? Both sides spoke confidently, presenting strong arguments but the affirmative were declared the winners. The debate was very well-received by the Probus Club members and the debaters were impeccable ambassadors for Denison College.
Kids Teaching Kids
Throughout Terms 2 and 3 the top Year 7 class from Kelso and Bathurst have been developing workshops as part of the Kids Teaching Kids program. Kids Teaching Kids is an education model that uses local environmental issues as a theme for learning. The students gathered together over a series of days to consider how people learn and create their own workshops to teach other students about the issue of sustainability. The groups chose to investigate a diverse range of topics including Food Miles, Water Sustainability, Hydroponics and the Impact of Introduced Species. Once the students had become experts in their topic areas they created interactive and informative activities to teach their findings to others. A showcase of all workshops was put on at Bathurst High Campus on Monday 25 August. All groups presented engaging and effective workshops displaying the products of this project-based learning initiative. A small number of these groups have been selected to present their workshops at the Kids Teaching Kids conference at Grenfell High School on Wednesday 10 September.
Head Teacher Welfare Report
Amazing - Please read on:
Signe Whitson is a licensed therapist, national educator on bullying, and author of three books including Friendship & Other Weapons: Group Activities to Help Young Girls Cope with Bullying. For more information or workshop inquiries, please visit www.signewhitson.com
She recently wrote an article which I thought is certainly my experience here at Kelso as HT Welfare.
“I have been brought to tears more than once since the article ran, while listening to parents share their feelings of outrage and helplessness over their kids' experiences with bullying in school. One gifted but socially awkward middle school student blew me away with his articulate, poised, yet searingly painful accounts of relentless physical and verbal bullying on his school bus. An elementary school-aged girl described how she had to learn to shed her Australian accent within a month of entering U.S. schools because of how she was shunned by her classmates. The commonness of it all routinely astounds me with every new account; the pervasive cruelty makes my jaw drop every time.
It is important for me to begin this article by establishing that without doubt, many of the stories of bullying that are shared with me are horrifying and some are unspeakably cruel. But now, I also want to be honest and share that some of the stories are... well... really not so bad.
Take this story recently shared with me by an acquaintance who read about my professional work:
"Signe, I saw your picture in the paper last week. Congratulations! I didn't know you worked with bullied students. It's so important that you do - things have gotten so bad! Last week, my daughter was bullied really badly after school! She was getting off of her bus when this kid from our neighborhood threw a fistful of leaves right in her face! When she got home, she still had leaves in the hood of her coat. It's just awful! I don't know what to do about these bullies."
"Was she very upset when she got home?" I empathized.
"No. She just brushed the leaves off and told me they were having fun together," she said.
"Oh," I answered knowingly, aware that oftentimes kids try to downplay victimization by bullies from their parents, due to the embarrassment and shame they feel. "Did you get the sense she was covering for the boy?"
"No, no. She really seemed to think it was fun. She said that she threw leaves back at him, which I told her NEVER to do again! The nerve of those kids."
"Those 'kids,' I clarified. "Was it just the one boy throwing leaves or were there a bunch of kids all ganging up on her?"
"No, it was just this one boy that lives about a block from us," she assured me.
"Is he usually mean to her? Has he bothered her after school before?" I asked, eager at this point to figure out what the bullying issue was.
"No. I don't think so at least. That was the first time she ever said anything about him. It was definitely the first time that I noticed the leaves all over her coat. But it better be the last time! I won't stand for her being bullied by that kid. Next time, I am going to make sure the Principal knows what is going on after school lets out!"
While I always want to be careful not to minimize anyone's experience (it's the social worker in me!) and a part of me suspects that the sharing of this particular story may have been simply this parent's spontaneous way of making conversation with me in a store aisle, I hear these "alarming" (read: benign) stories often enough to conclude that there is a real need to draw a distinction between behaviour that is rude, behaviour that is mean and behavior that is characteristic of
bullying. I first heard bestselling children's author, Trudy Ludwig, talk about these distinguishing terms and, finding them so helpful, have gone on to use them as follows:
Rude = Inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.
A particular relative of mine (whose name it would be rude of me to mention) often looks my curly red hair up and down before inquiring in a sweet tone, "Have you ever thought about colouring your hair?" or "I think you look so much more sophisticated when you straighten your hair, Signe." This doting family member thinks she is helping me, the rest of the people in the room cringe at her boldness and I am left to wonder if being a brunette would suit me. Her comments can sting, but remembering that they come from a place of love - in her mind - helps me to remember what to do with the advice...
From kids, rudeness might look more like burping in someone's face, jumping ahead in line, bragging about achieving the highest grade or even throwing a crushed up pile of leaves in someone's face. On their own, any of these behaviours could appear as elements of bullying, but when looked at in context, incidents of rudeness are usually spontaneous, unplanned inconsideration, based on thoughtlessness, poor manners or narcissism, but not meant to actually hurt someone.
Mean = Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice). The main distinction between "rude" and "mean" behaviour has to do with intention; while rudeness is often unintentional, mean behaviour very much aims to hurt or depreciate someone. Kids are mean to each other when they criticize clothing, appearance, intelligence, coolness or just about anything else they can find to denigrate. Meanness also sounds like words spoken in anger -- impulsive cruelty that is often regretted in short order. Very often, mean behaviour in kids is motivated by angry feelings and/or the misguided goal of propping themselves up in comparison to the person they are putting down. Commonly, meanness in kids sounds an awful lot like: • "Are you seriously wearing that sweater again?
Didn't you just wear it, like, last week? Get a life
• "You are so fat/ugly/stupid/gay." • "I hate you!"
Make no mistake; mean behaviours can wound deeply and adults can make a huge difference in the lives of young people when they hold kids accountable for being mean. Yet, meanness is different from bullying in important ways that should be understood and differentiated when it comes to intervention.
Bullying = Intentionally aggressive behaviour, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power.
Experts agree that bullying entails three key elements: an intent to harm, a power imbalance and repeated acts or threats of aggressive behaviour. Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they keep doing it, with no sense of regret or remorse - even when targets of bullying show or express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop. Bullying may be physical, verbal, relational or carried out via technology: • Physical aggression was once the gold standard of bullying-- the "sticks and stones" that made adults in charge stand up and take notice. This kind of bullying includes hitting, punching, kicking, spitting, tripping, hair pulling, slamming a child into a locker and a range of other behaviours that involve physical aggression. • Verbal aggression is what our parents used to advise us to "just ignore." We now know that despite the old adage, words and threats can, indeed, hurt and can even cause profound, lasting harm.
• Relational aggression is a form of bullying in which kids use their friendship--or the threat of taking their friendship away--to hurt someone. Social exclusion, shunning, hazing, and rumour spreading are all forms of this pervasive type of bullying that can be especially beguiling and crushing to kids.
• Cyberbullying is a specific form of bullying that involves technology. According to Hinduja and Patchin of the Cyberbullying Research Centre, it is the "wilful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices." Notably, the likelihood of repeated harm is especially high with cyberbullying because electronic messages can be accessed by multiple parties, resulting in repeated exposure and repeated harm.
So, why is it so important to make the distinction between rude, mean and bullying? Can't I just let parents share with me stories about their kids? Here's the thing; in our culture of 24/7 news cycles and social media sound bytes, we have a better opportunity than ever before to bring attention to important issues. In the last few years, Americans have collectively paid attention to the issue of bullying like never before; millions of school children have been given a voice, 49 states in the U.S. have passed anti-bullying legislation, and thousands of adults have been trained in important strategies to keep kids safe and dignified in schools and communities. These are significant achievements.
At the same time, however, I have already begun to see that gratuitous references to bullying are creating a bit of a "little boy who cried wolf" phenomena. In other words, if kids and parents improperly classify rudeness and mean behaviour as bullying - whether to simply make conversation or to bring attention to their short-term discomfort - we all run the risk of becoming so sick and tired of hearing the word that this actual life-and-death issue among young people loses its urgency as quickly as it rose to prominence.
It is important to distinguish between rude, mean and bullying so that teachers, school administrators, police, youth workers, parents and kids all know what to pay attention to and when to intervene. As we have heard too often in the news, a child's future may depend on a non-jaded adult's ability to discern between rudeness at the bus stop and life-altering bullying.”
Please talk with your young person and also look objectively at their behaviour and part in poor interactions with other students. Encourage them to follow the KHC process here by reporting this to an adult. Also remember the ways to be cybersmart and bully proof.
Be Cybersmart
1. Ignore the troll - Don’t respond, it gives trolls attention & power
2. Block the troll - Blocking, removes their power. If they pop up again under a different name, block again
3. Report the troll - Report to site administrators. If they pop up again, report again. If they continue, contact the police
4. Talk with friends & family - It’s not you, it’s them that has the problem
5. Protect friends from trolls - If trolls are upsetting a friend, tell them IGNORE, BLOCK, REPORT, TELL and PROTECT them by getting support
Visit Cybersmarts www.cybersmart.gov.au/ Call Kids Helpline 1800551800 BE BULLYPROOF to - verbal/physical/emotional bullying
Follow these four steps:
1. THE STOP SIGNAL - This is a clear statement or sign, making it clear the attention is not wanted
2. WALK AWAY - Makes a clear action removing a reason for the behaviour to continue
3. TALK - It’s important to talk to a trusted friend
4. REPORT - tell a trusted adult
REPEAT THIS - STOP WALK TALK REPORT
Access support on - www.bullyingnoway.com.au Call Kids Helpline 1800551800
A quick synopsis…
Have you been;
Rude = Inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.
Mean = Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).
Bullying = Intentionally aggressive behaviour, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power.
Dogs For Diggers
On September the 4th Caroline Harvey, Tegan Sumner, Kayla Andrews and Amy Cosgrove attended the Celebration and Graduation of dogs from the Bathurst Correctional Centre into a companion relationship with a veteran from the armed forces. Google Dogs for Diggers to see the amazing work this program does and the support it gives to our returned soldiers who suffer from the ravages of these tours. We were unable to take a photo, however, the KHC students were photographed presenting a gift to the Attorney General For Justice Mr Brad Hazzard. He was a lovely man who remembered their names and spoke with such interest in and to our students. A bystander overheard him speaking with the students and commented to one of the Corrective Services staff, that the girls spoke with such confidence and knowledge when addressed by Mr Hazzard.
From the program we run on Tuesday, at school each week, here are a few more lovely shots of our students.
iLearn Term 3
Our Year 6 transition program, iLearn, continued in Term 3. Once again, students from over ten feeder primary schools attended Kelso High Campus on Wednesdays during Weeks 5, 6 and 7 and took part in an excellent selection of activities including Visual Arts, Science and Circus.
During this visit, the Year 6 students had the opportunity to participate in a session led by Cirkus Surreal where they experienced a wide range of equipment and circus skills. Under the tutelage of current circus students they were shown how to juggle, to unicycle and to safely use the aerial apparatus. Many of the iLearn students look forward to joining Cirkus Surreal once they commence at Kelso High.
The science component saw the students undertaking an experiment in the laboratory with Miss Tonkin and Mrs Wickham. They learned about a range of lab equipment and how it should be safely used to investigate scientific processes. This was a chance for students to experience the practical side of high school science lessons.
The visit also included a session in Visual Arts. With the help of Mr Taylor, Miss Martin and Ms Ash the students created still life artworks using a range of medium. They produced some excellent pieces in a short time and had a taste of Kelso High’s Creative and Performing Arts program.
Students were also asked to complete some testing in literacy and numeracy during their visit to assist with class placements for Year 7 2015.
Many thanks to all teachers who assisted throughout the iLearn program and to our feeder schools for their assistance and support.
Upcoming Important Dates for Year 6 Transition:
25 November – Parent Information Night 3 December – Orientation Day for all students
Year 7, 2015
APOLOGY: In the last newsletter I accidently added my ‘on the night’
reference sponsor list. I had meant to include this clearer sponsor list.
Hans Stroeve
2014 Kelso High Trivia Night A Huge Thank You To Our Sponsors (* ex-student or parent)
Major Sponsor Bathurst Auto Glass *
1st prize sponsors Elephant & Castle Hotel *
Continuous Essential Energy * AJS Electrical *
2nd Prize Bathurst RSL *
3rd prize Bathurst Electrical *
Lucky Door Prize
Reliance Credit Union Bathurst Real Estate *
Metre of Money Devro
Rounds/Who Am I/Who Wants To Be A Millionaire/Spot Prizes Paul Toole M.P. Butler Engineering * Scott Inwood Computers * Ideal Kitchens * Blatch Smash Repairs * Martin Phillips & Terry White Pharmacies Business Development Solutions * Absolute Hair Studio * Tablelands Building * Reynolds Contracting * Surf, Skate & Street Anthony Gibbs Painting * Bad Wires * Meekin Family * MSP Photography Bathurst Sprayfx * Timmy Tobin Motorcycles * Fish River Valley Brewing * Gloria Jeans * Calare Civil * Wizard Dry Cleaners David Dunbar Homes *
Other Prizes Throughout The Night Sportsco * Stonepine Distillery *
Venue Café * Pipers Bistro * Petrie’s Mitre 10 Fish River Roasters 2BS Mars Fab Slabs Timber Woodlawn Lavender * The Hub Jack Duggan’s Irish Pub Bad Wires * Beautiful Glow * Kelso Newsagency Ash’s Speedway Museum Surf, Skate ‘N Street D’aquinos Kelso Gorgeousness * Books Plus Rosanna’s Kitchen Trinity Heights IGA Macquarie Day Spa * Kelso Fruit Market Panthers Leagues Club Al Dente Kleva Edge Muffin Break Cityfit 9inety 2wo Restaurant Kelso Hotel Believe Bootcamps * Central West Courses * Fifty8 George * Commercial Hotel Milthorpe Knickerbocker Hotel * Tool King Trinity Bakehouse Essential Energy * Bernardi’s IGA * Metro 5 * Bathurst Dental Care Hale Family * O’Connell Avenue Café & Store* Yarrabin Holiday Ranch * Kim’s Country Coffee* Donut King *
Solution to Stroevey Number 200 On Your Mark
Answer was Because the other missing letters - Q, U, E, S, T, I, O, N, M, A, R and K - are represented by the question
mark
Stroevey Challenge Number 201 Add one line
5 + 5 + 5 = 550
Make the above equation true by adding only one line, and it can’t go across the = sign to make a ≠
Solutions showing necessary working & your roll call group should be given to Stroevey.
Prizes always on offer.
Another Ex- Kelso High Graduate Shines!!
Jason Saxby, chef and part-owner of Russo & Russo, wins Hottest Dish in Weekend Australian Hot 50 Restaurants 2014 list
Jason Saxby, head chef at Russo and Russo.
ALONG the bustle of Enmore Road sits Osteria di Russo & Russo, ostensibly a 1970s trattoria behind inset windows and frilly curtains. Inside? One of Australia’s most distinctive Italian restaurants.
In a dimly lit space anchored by a large marble bar, genuine and hospitable hosts make you feel like family, while chef Jason Saxby — a serious talent - plays with the classic flavour combinations of Italian cuisine, often adding an unexpected sour or sweet note while simultaneously giving his dishes a contemporary, dishevelled look.
Many dishes grabbed us this year but none more so than the textural, culinary embrace of fregola in squid-ink and olive oil with pellet-shaped prawn meat — to imitate the mouth-feel of fregola — napped with a knockout mussel butter, house-made bottarga, basil and chilli threads.
It’s Saxby’s wonderful, lateral thought on a classic Sardinian seafood pasta and, like everything he does, it captures the Italian spirit in an entirely unexpected way.
That’s why we’ve judged it our Hottest Dish in this year’s Hot 50 Restaurants issue of The Weekend Australian Magazine.
Watch Jason prepare his winning dish on:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/video/id-VweDdybzp3biJF0pmMDJHl8JMwQhlh9t/Osteria-Di-Russo-and-Russo-Enmore#ooid=VweDdybzp3biJF0pmMDJHl8JMwQhlh9t
How do people use basic numeracy skills in their everyday work life. Check this Scottish site:
http://www.youngacademyofscotland.org.uk/numeracy.html
Cardiologist Mark Dweck explains how he uses numeracy skills to diagnose and treat heart attacks.
Psychology lecturer Christine Caldwell explains how she needs to understand negative numbers in her everyday life but also relates the skill to research into the mimic capabilities of Capuchin monkeys.
Understanding probability is a skill that robotics expert Subramanian Ramamoorthy uses when designing robots that can respond to particular events.
Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans uses spreadsheets when buying a new mobile phone.
Southern Cross Cultural Exchange.
Have fun, make new friends, and learn about another culture!
Volunteer to host an international high school student arriving into Australia in July 2015, and you’ll be amazed at the way this unique and rewarding opportunity helps your family to become closer, to understand themselves better and to see the world in a new light. Carefully selected students will arrive in July for their 3, 5, or 10 month programs from France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Spain and Colombia. They will live as a local, attend a local secondary school, arrive with their own spending money, and comprehensive insurance cover, all arranged by Southern Cross Cultural Exchange. You choose the nationality, the gender, the duration and the interests of the student that you feel is the best match for your family. Visit us at www.scce.com.au, email [email protected] or call us toll free on 1800 500 501, request our international student profiles, and capture the spirit of family and friendship!
CLEARANCE UNIFORM SALE
AVAILABLE FROM KELSO HIGH CAMPUS FRONT OFFICE
COATS: $20
SIZES:
ZIP FRONT JACKETS: $50
FLEECY’S: $25 SIZES:
GREEN BEANIES & SCARVES: $5 SET
