Newsletter- Term 2 Week 9 2024

Ensuring a strong finish to Term 2

We hope that you and your family had a pleasant long weekend- it has come at a good point in the term! Term 2 is always a challenging Term. The days get shorter and weather colder which has a direct correlation to motivation, output and at times optimism. Sickness strikes us down and we often feel tired. It is a time in the school year where assessments seem more frequent and with end of semester reports closer to realisation. As such, it is a Term where resilience is tested and being proactive, organised and getting regular rest is very important. Fortunately, this year the weather has, to be honest, been quite reliable and consistent. It has certainly helped the cause and I personally have witnessed an encouraging vibe around the college and as a result I expect that the outcomes that will be realised in the coming weeks on our End of Semester reports will be positive for all. The challenge for all students is to ensure that you remain positive, disciplined, determined, and have high expectations of self to complete all set tasks before the end of the term and finish this semester off in great fashion.

Professional Learning Day Wrap

On Thursday last week we conducted a Professional Development Day at Newcomb Secondary College for all staff. Victorian State Schools are assigned 4 Professional Learning Days a year to work many items to improve student outcomes and wellbeing. These days are very valuable for staff and the focus of our Term 2 Professional Learning Day was on curriculum design, engagement, and wellbeing.

Travel Safety

I would like to remind our college community of the importance of safe movement around the school grounds and to and from school each day. Whether you are travelling on public transport, by car, on bike, scooter or walking, you must do so in line with the law and with respect to community expectations. With so many people moving at the start and end of the day, many avoidable accidents can occur. Wearing a helmet is important. Approaching corners slowly and safely is important. Walking on footpaths and keeping within designated bus stops is important. Finally, if you choose to ride an item to school, for the safety of all, it is expected that you dismount your item and walk it when on school grounds. Thanks for your vigilance and cooperation on this important matter- after all, we all have a responsibility to ensure the safety of each other.

Student Drop-off & Pick-up

As you are aware, we have some exciting facility upgrades happening on-site at present and renovations about to commence next door at Newcomb Central in the coming weeks. As such, we need to ensure movement on and off the school site each day is conducted safely. 

Of consideration are buses that enter the school grounds to collect students travelling home to the Bellarine Peninsula each day. Parents/ carers are reminded not to pick-up or drop-off students in the bus terminal. Please use the front of the college on the Bellarine Highway instead. Equally, the rear carpark at the college is for staff parking only and should also not be a site for student drop-off or pick-up, use Hibiscus Cresent instead please. 

Additionally, please use the college visitor’s carpark only when needing to pop into the college administration office.

Thanks for your cooperation in keeping staff, students, and our community safe.

Have a great week!

Regards,

Scott McLeod

Principal

Newcomb Secondary College

81-85 Bellarine Highway | Newcomb 3219

T: (03) 5248 1400 | F: (03) 5248352

Creating Positive Futures

The Attitudes to Schools Survey is a voluntary annual student survey offered by the Department of Education to assist schools and the department to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experiences of school. We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and will be asking your child about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

This year, the survey will be conducted at Newcomb Secondary on June 12 and 13.

If we did not receive a refusal of consent by June 10th, this will be taken as your consent for your child to participate in the 2024 Attitude to School Survey. However, as noted above the survey is voluntary and even with your consent, your child can choose to withdraw or not respond to questions at any time.

Parent information and consent letter Attitudes to Schools Survey 2024

Mr Joshua Grabowski

Assistant Principal

Newcomb Secondary College

Newcomb Secondary College is fortunate enough to have a Doctors in Schools Program running 2 days a week.

We have both a GP, and Mental Health Nurse that attend onsite to run a clinic on a Tuesday and Wednesday. This clinic is for any student in Years 7-12. The appointments are bulk billed, meaning that there is no cost to families.

Appointments can be made by either contacting the schools Wellbeing Team or calling Bellarine Community Health on 5253 0400.

Students may access this service to address any of the following:

• Physical pain or issues
• Health lifestyle (sleep, diet, nutrition, exercise)
• Mental health
• Sexual health and contraception
• Sexuality and gender identity
• Body image
• Scripts

If you would like to know more, please contact Jane Osborne in our Wellbeing Team.

Jane can either be reached by contacting the school office, or via email at jane.osborne@education.vic.gov.au

Jane Osborne

Newcomb Secondary College

Student Wellbeing & Engagement

Ph: 5248 1400 | 

E: Jane.Osborne@education.vic.gov.au

Welcome!

This health content is brought to you by Doctors in Secondary School.

Please find the selected resources from your healthcare team below. These resources offer a trusted source of relevant health information. We hope you find them helpful and informative.

This week's focus is on how to support your young person navigating relationships.

Understanding teenage relationships

It can be difficult to appreciate the impact that a romantic relationship can have on a young person's life. Given that they are sometimes short-lived and seemingly unstable, adolescents' romantic relationships are often dismissed as 'puppy love', unimportant or failed to be taken seriously. It has become increasingly clear that young people's romantic relationships warrant much more attention than they have traditionally been given. They play an important role in young people's day-to-day lives and have a significant impact on their current mental health, their ongoing development and future romantic relationships.

To learn more, visit the webpage by, clicking here

Please click on the link above or scan the QR code to access the information sheets.

COGG Parent Education Events Term 3 2024 PDF

The After School Homework Club is in Room B2 every day except Thursdays. Students are welcome to attend to catch up on classwork, complete homework, receive individual tutoring or to work with classmates on a group project. They may attend for 15 minutes to sort out just one problem or they may attend right up to 5pm to accomplish a greater amount of learning. Those who attend will be awarded a positive learning chronicle (with reward token) and will be offered food and hot chocolates!! 

Mr Curnick

Welcome Mr Alexander Schmid! 

My job as a Science Laboratory Technician at Newcomb Secondary College is to prepare practical experiments, keep track of chemical and biological stocks, along with maintaining all other equipment in the science classrooms and laboratories. I have a double degree of Science and Engineering from Deakin University, and I have worked as a Sleep Technician for St John of God Hospital. I worked as a Science Laboratory Technician at Geelong Grammar School just before coming to Newcomb Secondary College.

In my spare time I am a self-published author of the fantasy series Geb War Chronicles which currently has two books in the series and a third on the way. I also enjoy video games, movies and especially reading books.

We’re excited to let you know that entries for the 2024 Insight Creative Writing Competition are OPEN. If we have any budding writers from Years 7–12 at our school, please enter! We’d love to see your work.

Here is a quick reminder of the guidelines Insight have made to help students get even more creative with their entries.

• All year levels have an upper limit of 1400 words. There is no minimum word limit.
• We accept other creative writing forms in addition to short stories, including poems, scripts and more.
• This year’s theme (Beauty in the unknown) is optional, giving entrants the freedom to write about anything that inspires them.

To download the submission form and view all conditions of entry, please click below.

DOWNLOAD CONDITIONS OF ENTRY AND SUBMISSION FORM

COMPETITION KEY DATES

Entries open: 18 March 2024
Entries close: 1 September 2024
Longlist announcement: 18 October 2024
Shortlist announcement: 1 November 2024
Awards ceremony: TBA

We’re looking forward to hearing about your stories soon! Good Luck!

Here are some more contact details for the Insight Team

INSIGHT PUBLICATIONS

3/350 Charman Road, Cheltenham 3192 VIC AUSTRALIA

p. +61 3 8571 4950 | m. 0413 131 842 | w. www.insightpublications.com.au

We know access to high-speed broadband is a necessity in the 21^st Century. Yet sadly many families and school students are still unable to access the internet at home and that this can place students at a significant disadvantage.

The Albanese Government is providing up to 30,000 families with free broadband for one year, as part of their plan for a better National Broadband Network (NBN). Already, 1,000 families now have home internet thanks to the School Student Broadband Initiative.

This helps ensure that students can reach their full potential, by helping them to stay connected at home so they don’t fall behind.

To check your eligibility please refer to the contact details below:

We are very fortunate to have strong links with our neighbouring Geelong Regional Library Corporation branches at Newcomb and Geelong City Library. The Children's and Youth Services Librarians, Ms Laura Farrington and Naomi Ford, join us fortnightly to run engaging and interactive sessions promoting genres and doing related craft activities! They have a merry band of students who regularly come to their sessions, and we invite other students to join them in the school library at 1 p.m. fortnightly! Special activities happen at Easter, Idahobit Day, Halloween and Christmas with the odd Literature Trivia game throughout the year to spice things up. This term, the students are really adoring the opportunity to discuss their favourite Manga reads and to vote on some new Manga titles for the school library!

This term we have a focus on Manga and Anime.

NEXT SESSION

19/06 – Manga Trivia: Manga VS Anime

This year Newcomb Secondary College students are participating in the Children's Book Council of Australia's Shadow Judging program with 2 groups casting their votes on the best Australian books published in 2023. We are focussing on 2 categories 'Older Readers fiction' and 'Picture books' which are picture books for older readers. Our Year 7 students, students in Ms Wray's Year 9/10 Creative Writing elective unit and some keen Senior Year 10 and 11 students will experience the 6 shortlisted books in the 2 categories, consider the official judging criteria and cast their votes for which books they believe should win. The Older Readers group meet at lunchtimes, record their thoughts on each book in special CBCA booklets and make creative responses based on their favourite shortlisted books (poems, sculptures, fanfiction for example).

We will have celebrations on the day that the Book of the Year Announcements come out from the CBCA (Term 3) and will see how our favourite books fared.  There will be some fantastic prizes for those students who voted for the winning books! Our Australian authors and illustrators are greatly supported by these annual competitions and the Students Choice awards are very important. For further information check out the Children's Book Council of Australia's Website about Shadow Judging. Students will share their creative responses and feedback about the books as they go (on this library page of the Newcomb Secondary College newsletter)!

CBCA Sun Project: Shadow Judging – Young voices welcome here