This week we pause our regular learning program on Thursday (September 12) for a full day learning on our individual and collective Wellbeing. The RUOK day, known at Newcomb Secondary College as Wellbeing Day will be full of learning and activities focussed on providing students and staff with the opportunity to check-in on each other, learn and share collaboratively and build the capacity of ones Wellbeing. The day has been thoroughly planned and prepared by our school captains and SLAM team members in conjunction with Ms McInnes and Newcomb Secondary College staff. The day features connections from and with local community groups, will be inclusive, involve a number of activities for students to be part of and finish with a Colour Run on the Eastern Oval. We are looking forward to a great day full of staff and student participation and fun.
Right to disconnect
Whilst on the topic of Wellbeing, you will have also noted the recent announcements about work-life balance for employees. The ‘Right to disconnect’ legislation is designed to provide space for employees to focus on their health, wellbeing, friends, and families outside of regular work hours. At Newcomb Secondary College, we have consistently, for many years now, educated, and supported staff with work hours and a healthy work-life balance. It is not as simple as just saying to employees to ‘switch-off’ when you leave work, for some it comes naturally, others need to work hard to disconnect. We are a school who make ourselves available for our community, but we do ask that our community not only understand but support the need for staff to disconnect. Community support can be as simple as ensuring that any contact is made during work hours- a simple action is to draft an email outside of hours to send the next day or use the ‘delay send’ feature on your emails. Equally, it is important to note that staff will respond to email correspondence during work hours, and not outside of hours. We thank you for your consideration and support.
Professional Learning Day
Last week staff participated in our Term three Professional Learning Day. The PL day focussed on Teaching and learning, Assessment and Reporting and Curriculum Development. These protected days (once a term) are very important for us as a school, for our staff, and thus impact the learning experience and outcomes of our students.
Term 3 is quickly coming to a close
We only have little over one week to go for the Term- it certainly has yet again flown by. For our Year 12 students, they are down to a number of days before for some exams commence, and for others they will have completed their VCE-VM outcomes. I encourage all students to finish the Term in a really positive manner- we thank you for your conversations and support at home.
We deeply appreciate the efforts of our parents who consistently support their children in attending school and engaging with their education. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in helping us create a positive and productive learning environment for all our students, ensuring the best possible outcomes for your children and for our school community. Your commitment makes a significant difference!
If you have any questions regarding attendance or require any support or assistance, please contact the school on 5248 1400.
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.
Whooping cough cases are continuing to increase across Victoria, particularly among school-aged children. Whooping cough is a very contagious infection, mostly spread through coughing or sneezing. Symptoms include:
· blocked or runny nose
· tiredness
· mild fever
· severe bouts of coughing, often followed by a ‘whooping’ sound on breathing.
Whooping cough can lead to life threatening infections in babies.
If your child is unwell, they should not attend school. Please see a doctor if you or your child develops whooping cough symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the spread of the infection.
Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school.
To reduce the spread of infection and to protect others within the school community, students diagnosed with whooping cough are recommended not to attend school for 21 days after their cough was first present, or until they have taken a full course of antibiotics prescribed by a doctor (usually a 5-day course).
If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.
I hope we can work together to protect the whole school community by following the recommended advice.
For more information about whooping cough, refer to Whooping cough on the Better Health Channel – see link below.
Vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of whooping cough. The Department of Health recommends staying up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. A free booster dose of the pertussis vaccine is covered under the national immunisation program for students aged 12 to 13. If you are unsure about your child’s vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor.
We really appreciate your support in keeping our students safe and well.
For more information, refer to:
Better Health Channel, for information about whooping cough symptoms, prevention and Victorian eligibility for free booster immunisations
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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 Secondary School Vaccinations.
Year 7 and Year 10 secondary school students can receive free immunisations as part of the National Immunisation Program. Year 7 students can receive a Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis booster as well as a Human papillomavirus vaccination. Year 10 students can receive the Meningococcal ACWY vaccination.
This term Nobody’s Fool Theatre have been lucky enough to have the fabulous artists Kre8_artstudio in to work with the students on their VCE Art folio. Kre8_artstudio is a re engagement arts led program supporting students through art to achieve success. Both ex-students of Newcomb Secondary College, artists Matt Purcell and Aaron Scott work with children and teens to re-engage through art.
The 72 Maths class have begun a series of group-work rich tasks to introduce notions of number patterns and algebra, where the students discuss and solve number puzzles as they learn. The first lesson involved cutting up a series of clues to work out how many members the World’s Biggest Family had, and what was everyone’s age. Once the family was placed in age order from 0 to 81 the task was complete.
On September 6th, half of the Be Bold Be Heard group went out and donated books to local primary schools. These books were collected from our Book Drive initiative during early this term.
First stop was Newcomb Primary School where we donated books aimed towards years 4-6. Next, we headed to Whittington Primary and saw their street community library before heading inside and meeting the principal to donate books.
Lastly, we donated to Geelong East Primary School.
All schools were very grateful and loved the books. Thank you to all the families and students who donated books, everyone is very appreciative (including us!), and these will help many young students in our community.
Whittington Primary School's Principal Mrs Cormack
Written by Mia, Emma, Lou Lou & Lil
On September 10th, the other half of the Be Bold Be Heard group donated books to a kindergarten and two aged care homes, with the remaining books collected from our Book Drive.
The first stop was St Albans Park kindergarten where picture story books were donated, and then Tannoch Brae and Roccoco aged care homes were donated adult and gardening books.
Everyone was very grateful, and we are so happy we got to help younger and older people in the community.
Tannoch Brae Nursing Home
Written by Emily, Katelin, Ruby, Gracie & Talydia
Thank you everyone for donating your books - they were in lovely condition and will be enjoyed by the students at the kindergartens and schools we visited and by the staff and people residing at the retirement homes. Special thanks to Ms Stoneley for driving the BBBH Book Mobile (school bus) to make deliveries. Please save your books at home for this annual Book Week drive at Newcomb Secondary College.
Congratulations to all participants and competition entrants for our recent Book Week Book Bag Design competition. We had 32 entrants to our competition who worked diligently for 10 days to create their artworks with calico bags and fabric markers. All competition entrants got small prizes and our winners got a range of special prizes ranging from pinatas to canteen vouchers! Thank you everyone for your great creativity and sharing of resources. A special thank you to Mr Ben Davis, our competition judge.
LIBRARY CLUBS
*Mondays (New): Chess Club - Student managed by Tye Turnewitsch - starting 9/9 (chess can be played every lunch time but this is our dedicated multi-board Chess Club).
Mondays (Weekly): Book Club Years 7-9 circle of Friends: share the books you are reading and recommend/ select some new books for our school library from visiting Book Shops tubs!!!!
* Tuesdays (Weekly): Games Club - Board games, movies, karaoke and popcorn with Noor and Vanessa!
Ms Noor Al-Assafi and Vanessa (COGG)
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 Corporation (Newcomb Branch) with Ms Laura Farrington and Mr Cam Wilson!!!!
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 and to have the company of the specialist Children's and Youth Services Team there!
Our Term 3 2024 schedule of remaining visits are as follows:
Wed 18 Sept – Trivia Quiz
* Thursdays (Weekly): Craft Club with Miss Marshall: Term 4 sign up begins today 03/09 for Polymer clay jewellery & Paper Magiclay fantastical beasts making. We will have an exhibition of works in Week 4 of Term 4.
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!!
