Newsletter- Term 3 Week 4 2024

For those of you who are unaware, Newcomb Secondary College was formed in 1969, thus marking 2024 as the 55^th anniversary of our wonderful school. To celebrate this milestone, over 30 of the Newcomb Secondary College inaugural students recently gathered at the Fyansford Hotel to mark the occasion and recount the many stories of their experience at Newcomb Secondary College as well as share in their rich life stories post-graduation. In hearing of the event, and the wonderful day had by all, I began to reflect upon the impact that school has upon us all- both past and present. It continues to amaze me the bonds that can be formed from a school experience. Life-long bonds. 

For most of us, the dearest and longest friendships were formed from our school days. And of course, we all know of one or two couples who were school sweat-hearts, became married and have beautiful families. I wonder if the current students at Newcomb Secondary College appreciate the impact of the current schooling experience will have on them in 55 years time? Yes, we know that school is an institution aimed at preparing young people for success in the world of work. A school mission is to encourage, inspire and invoke skills and knowledge to ensure the aspirations and dreams of our young people can be realised. But school is much more than a place to draw out and facilitate a young person’s skills and attributes. A school is a human institution, full of shared experiences, common goals, and learning- a moment of time shared and lived together with peers. A moment in time unique to that cohort in a fast paced and ever-changing world. I encourage you all to take a moment and reflect upon what impact Newcomb Secondary College had on shaping your life? I know and trust you acquired the necessary skills and attributes that supported your journey into the workforce, but if like me, and perhaps the inaugural students of 1969, I have no doubt that your school experience at Newcomb Secondary College offered you much, much, more than that. It is exactly why I have returned to Newcomb Secondary College as Principal, and many others past Newcomb Secondary College students who returned as leaders, teachers, or support staff- put simply it is to give back to a school, and a community, that gave so much to us all. 

It is why I have great faith, hope and belief in our current students at Newcomb Secondary College. What a life that they have in front of them!

                                                                                                                                                
Senior Band Tour

This week we have our amazing Senior Concert Band touring Western Victoria. In what is always a highlight of the school year, the concert band will spend the whole week performing in schools and community centres throughout the Warrnambool, Portland, and surrounding areas. The Senior Concert Band, led by Mrs Bourke, Mrs Baker-Smith, and Mr Crowther, are an extremely talent group of musicians and a wonderful advertisement for Newcomb Secondary College. Music has been a feature of Newcomb Secondary College since the school’s inception and our program is the envy of many schools within the Geelong Region. We look forward to the students returning on Friday to welcome them back and hear of the great time they had together on the tour.

Have a great week!

Regards,

Scott McLeod

Principal

Newcomb Secondary College

81-85 Bellarine Highway | Newcomb 3219

T: (03) 5248 1400 | F: (03) 52483532

Creating Positive Futures

On Tuesday 27^TH August 2024, Barwon Health Immunisation Service, will visit our Year 7 students to administer the free

• HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine =1 injection
• Boostrix vaccine (Diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough booster) = 1 injection

There is also an opportunity for any year 10 students that have missed out earlier in the year to receive their Meningococcal vaccine. Consent cards were sent home with year 10 students on 19.8.24 to be returned no later than Friday 23.8.24.

Students are to wear SPORTS UNIFORM for the day.

We still have a high outstanding number of parent consents not given for the year 7 immunisations.

All families that haven’t given consent have received an email yesterday 19.8.24 and this needs to be returned with YES or NO consent given no later than this coming Friday 23.8.24 to either Newcomb Secondary College office or to Barwon Health through the hyperlink attached in the email. Consent form is attached to the email, or a hard copy can be collected from the Newcomb Secondary College office.

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 information on Vaping and Young People for Parents and Carers. This resource was created to fill the knowledge gap around vaping and e-cigarettes, empowering parents and carers with the latest research and information to engage in meaningful conversations with their dependents about the potential harms.

To learn more, visit the webpage by, clicking here.

You can also access the information via QR code.

COGG Parent Education Events Term 3 2024 PDF

On the 15th of August we took an awesome group of year 7 volleyballers to the leisure time centre in Corio. These students represented themselves and Newcomb Secondary College exceptionally by displaying great sportsmanship, manners, and engagement. The group took the first game to find their feet with the sport and to learn each other’s playing styles. Once this had started to occur the boys managed to really gel together to form a tight unit on the court that was very excited and supportive of each other. They managed two wins on the day, including one being a final game that came down to a tie breaking set where they were able to hold their nerve and battle it out until the final siren. A massive thank you to the students for their participation and representation of Newcomb Secondary College, and to Millie as well who was an exception photographer, supporter, and motivator.

When we arrived our first game was very soon against Belmont. We fought hard until the end but then Belmont scored to make the scores 1-0. Our second game was against Oberon which was the game where we had scored our first goal and came away with a win with the final scores being 3-0. The last game we had was against Bellarine. When the whistle sounded to start the game we felt very confident with the way we played last game. We fortunately came away with a win scoring 3 goals while Bellarine had not scored a single goal. We finished runner up overall in the competition!

By Fletcher Weston (71)

For the first 2 games we played Northern Bay and Bannockburn. We had really good communication and we ran our offense really well winning both games. There was great team play, and our defense was rock solid, winning both games by about 20 - 30 points.

After a break we played our 3rd game against Belmont in the semi-finals and unfortunately lost. We tried our best.

By Tommy Cobb 73

On Monday the year 7 girls basketball team had an amazing time at AWA stadium. Our team competed against 3 other schools, Matthew Flinders, Northern Bay, and North Geelong. Out of the 3 rounds we won 1 and came very close in another. Out of all the schools that were there Western Heights won, after winning every one of their matches. Great effort to everyone that competed. A big thankyou to Scarlett for helping score and coach.

By Holly Riordan 75

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

Be Bold Be Heard update!

On Friday, August 16^th, our Be Bold Be Heard girls made their way down the highway to Lara Secondary College for their third BBBH forum.

During this forum, the girls started by completing some collaboration activities, before moving into a dance workshop to build on confidence and empowerment. Finally, the remainder of the day was set aside for action planning and goal setting. The girls also began their presentation for their final forum in October.

Don’t forget, this week for Book Week, our BBBH girls are running a Book Drive throughout the week. Books can be donated in the library, please look for your corresponding house colour as you will be receiving house points for donations.
On Thursday, don’t forget to dress up as your favourite book character on Thursday August 22^nd – you might even win a prize! Canteen vouchers up for grabs for each year level.

Come to the library at recess to enter!!!!

See below!!!!

WHOLE SCHOOL DRESS UP DAY THURSDAY AUGUST 22ND 2024

On Thursday, August 22^nd, the girls have planned a Book Week Dress Up Day. The theme this year is ‘Reading is Magic’ so we ask that you dress up as something magical or a character from your favourite book. There will be a ‘parade’ during recess (IN THE LIBRARY) for those who wish to enter, with a prize (CANTEEN VOUCHERS) for best dressed in each year level.
Teachers – don’t be shy, we need you to dress up too!

There will also be a Book Drive running throughout the whole week. If you have any books (for any age) that you wish to donate, please bring them to school and drop them off in the library in the box with your house colour – as donations will accumulate house points! The boxes are in front of the library desk.

2025 Geelong Youth Council - Nominations Open NOW!

Are you aged between 12-17 and interested in having a say, making a difference, and learning more about local government decision-making?

The City of Greater Geelong is looking for 11 passionate new members from the Geelong region to join the 2025 Youth Council Advisory Committee.

Youth Council is an opportunity to share your ideas, discuss issues affecting young people, provide advice to Council, develop an understanding of local government, build your leadership skills, and make heaps of new friends!

If you are interested in this amazing opportunity, make sure you submit an application for the 2025 Youth Council program.

Nominations are open from 12 August - 13 September so head over to our socials @GeelongYouthCouncil or head to the Geelong Webpage

https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/youthcouncil for more information about how to apply.

If you have any questions or require more information jump on to the Youth Council Instagram page- @GeelongYouthCouncil and DM us, or email Youthcouncil@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

* Tuesdays (Weekly): CBCA Shadow Judging Book Club with Miss Marshall - members only at this stage as we prepare to vote for our favourite Older Readers Fiction books.

CBCA Sun Project: Shadow Judging – Young voices welcome here

* Tuesdays (Weekly): Games Club - Board games, movies, karaoke and popcorn!

Joining in and having fun is central to the success of Games Club. Run by Vanessa (City of Greater Geelong) and Ms Noor Al-Assafi (our Newcomb Secondary College Social Worker), we have an outstanding turnout of students enjoying the warmth, friendship and fun in the school library every Tuesday lunchtime. Students love having access to the VR Xbox, Nintendo switch, board and card games! There will also be special craft activities and theme days!

* Wednesdays (Fortnightly): Geelong Regional Library with Ms Laura Farrington 

Manga, mysteries, magic, trivia games and craft are on the table when Laura is visiting from Geelong Regional Library Corporation. Newcomb Secondary students particularly enjoy using their badge maker machine and special activities like Easter, Halloween, Christmas and Idahobit Day crafts. We are very fortunate to be right next door to Newcomb Library where Miss Laura Farrington is the Children's and Youth Services Librarian. 

Our Term 3 2024 schedule of visits are as follows: 

Theme: Magic & Monsters

Wed 24 July – Monster Rock painting (With Sharpies, not paint) “Let’s talk about your favourite Book/Movie villain”

Wed 7 Aug – DIY Magic Wand “Favourite Fantasy Novel & How Magic Works in books vs Tv”

Wed 21 Aug – Book Week Kahoot Harry Potter HOUSE CUP competition (with Miss Marshall and Laura), additional craft activities Magic Bookmarks for colouring and laminating, continuation with 'Book Bags' & 'Design-a-new-cover-for-your-favourite-book competitions'.

Wed 4 Sept – Glow in the Dark Silhouette “Haunted house movies and Scary Books”

Wed 18 Sept – Trivia

* Thursdays (Weekly): Craft Club with Miss Marshall: Knitting/Sewing/Polymer Clay Jewellery/Pet Rocks

72 Backed Up to The Future – Geelong Tech School

As part of our Grow curriculum 72 visited the Geelong Tech School to experience the Backed Up to The Future program. The two days of the program saw students build a robot designed to clear blockages from a drainpipe. We studied real life scenarios from Barwon Water to get an understanding of the problems encountered with “fatburgs” and flushable products then constructed and coded robots to push a clear path through a simulated pipe blockage. There were some very innovative designs, some developed after some modifications were needed.

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