Newsletter- Week 7 2024

I trust that you all enjoyed the long weekend and stayed cool amongst the very hot weather! I have no doubt many of you ventured down the coast for a swim.

This week students in Year 7 and Year 9 will be undertaking their NAPLAN assessments. The assessments are nothing to fear, rather an opportunity for students to challenge their understanding and their learning in the various forms of the assessment. We are challenged all throughout our lives. We are tested daily. Embracing the challenge and striving to be your best is what we encourage, and all that should be asked. In the coming months, the outcome of the assessments will be shared with you and your student. Reviewing this feedback is an important process of celebration and growth- again valuable ongoing life skills.

We are also preparing for an exciting time of year where we open our school to local Year 5 and 6 families to showcase the many opportunities, facilities and pathways available to Newcomb students. We will be holding two Open Days - on March 19^th and 20^th - where parents, carers and prospective Year 7 students will have the opportunity to tour the college and witness our wonderful school, in particular the fantastic school learning programs and environment that we offer students. The 90-minute tours commence at 1.45 p.m. on March 19th and 11.30 a.m. on March 20^th. To secure your tour spot, please book via the school website or contact the school on (03) 5248 1400. We also have fabulous learning experiences lined up for senior primary students at East Geelong Primary, Whittington Primary and Tate St Primary where these students will get to experience learning like a Newcomb student for part of their day. The finale for our transition program this term in our Open Night on March 25th. This is always a night that makes us so proud, not only of what we have and can offer our community, but to see our students shine and speak so fondly of what they love about Newcomb Secondary.

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

Newcomb Secondary College School Tours (March 19 & 20)- ‘Come see for yourself!’

On Tuesday March 19 and Wednesday March 20, Newcomb Secondary College will be offering parents, carers, and prospective Year 7 students the opportunity to tour the college to witness our wonderful school facilities, and in particular, the fantastic school learning programs and environment that we offer students. The tours commence at 1.45 p.m. on March 19 and 11.30 a.m. on March 20, and we cordially invite all prospective 2025 Year 7 students and their families to come along. We anticipate the experience will total around 90 min. To secure your tour spot, please register at https://forms.gle/GdaJProURcDN4XAv5 or contact the school on (03) 5248 1400.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to another exciting year at Newcomb Secondary College, and to our new community members, welcome!

I hope the holiday break was a positive time for you all.

We love our families to be involved in our school community and a significant part of this involves maintaining regular communication by way of phone or email, particularly regarding attendance.

Attendance remains a major focus for us at Newcomb Secondary College. For us to ensure the best outcomes are accomplished for our students’ growth in all areas and to reach our set end of year target, we will continue to maintain high expectations for daily attendance for all students.

Both staff and parents have an important role to play in supporting our students to attend school every day, on time and ready to learn. If your student must be absent, please contact the school as soon as possible to prevent unexplained absences that may hinder your student’s progress. If a reason is not provided for your student’s absence, the school is required to contact you on the same day. This is to ensure the safety of your student and maintain open communication to ensure you and your student are supported and successful in our school community.

At Newcomb Secondary College we strive for high attendance to maximise student learning, and behavioural, cognitive and emotional engagement for all students, and we endeavour to work with and support all families in our community.

If you have any questions regarding attendance or require any support or assistance, please contact the school on 5248 1400.

Warm regards,

Ms Demopoulos
(Attendance Officer)

Last week, our year 10 students headed to DOXA camp – Malmsbury for the Year 10 Retreat. Excitement levels were high as we patiently sat through the 2 hour bus ride, but once we arrived students were able to direct their energy towards an array of awesome activities.

These included…

Leap of Faith – Students climbed up a 10 metre high climbing pole whilst wearing a harness. Once at the top, they leapt off the pole and were caught by their harness.

Giant swing – Students free fell from the skies whilst being harnessed to a bungy cord. The giant swing was definitely a crowd favourite, and required a great deal of courage to participate.

Archery – A change of pace from the other activities, students participated in an archery workshop. This activity proved popular, with several bullseyes even being hit across the camp.

Crate Stack: Students needed to work in teams and use strategy to stack milk crates as high as possible, whilst a team member was harnessed and standing on top

In our downtime, there were plenty of things to keep us entertained. Some students settled in for a movie night in the warmth of the theatre room, whilst the trampolines also proved extremely popular.

All of our students represented the school in a fantastic manner, with camp staff commending the manners and participation of the group. After a massive couple of days, I’m sure our students were glad to return to their own beds and I’m sure slept well that night.

Dan Colbert

.4 Senior Years Leader of Learning & Engagement

Newcomb Secondary College

81-85 Bellarine Hwy, 3219

Ph: 5248 1400

Dear extended NSC community,

I run the On2Wh subject at school.

In this program, all students work on their own personal bike project – a complete strip down and re-build of a geared bike.

So, I am asking for our community to look into the “darkest depths of their family sheds”, or “just out the back beside the water tank” and look out any unused, or ‘not likely to be used again’ bikes and donate them to the school. You don’t even need to dust them off! We’ll do that. Any condition, any brand. If you have extended family or friends that may have a bike or 2, mention this to them. If you see one sitting out for hard rubbish collection, maybe wheel it into your front yard and give the school a call!

Sometimes bikes that are ‘too good’ to pull apart find a home with the bikes we use for Bike tour, or with a student who might be in need of a bike.

Thanks in advance! – Can’t wait to see what comes out of the woodwork.

Kind Regards

Mr Glenn Unmack – On2Wheels teacher

TERM 1 UPDATE

Year 7 Indonesian

This term our Year 7 students have been introduced to the country, culture and language.
Many of our Year 7 students have come from primary schools that have studied Indonesian, so our main goal is introduce our new students and engage all students in our program.
To enhance their knowledge of the country, our students have just completed their first assessment task, a research task on the country of Indonesia.

Year 8 Indonesian
This term our Year 8 students have been focusing on grammar, to enhance their understanding of the sentence structure and build on their writing skills, as well as the topic of sports and hobbies (olahraga dan hobi).
During the last couple of weeks, the students have been working on their sport or hobby club poster, as their assessment task, as well as looking at the Indonesian sport of Sepak Takraw by playing a modified version of the game, hacky sack.

Year 9&10 Indonesian

The first term has seen the 9&10 group expanding their knowledge and vocabulary. Specifically, the class has been focusing on religion (Agama) and research events and celebrations within the Indonesian culture.

Next term, we see our sister school students from SMANSA in Lombok come over to stay with their host families and experience life in Australia. This is an exciting time for our Indonesian program, and we can’t wait to share this with our community.

Dear families of our Years 8 – 11 Indonesian students,

We are extremely fortunate that our sister school, SMANSA from Lombok, are sending some of their students over on a cultural exchange in from April 26th through to May 2nd, 2024 (end of Week Two, Term Two to the end of Week Three).

Newcomb Secondary College has a proud history with our sister school and are pleased that we are able begin our cultural exchange trips again.

For this exchange, we are partnering up with Matthew Flinders and Surf Coast Secondary.
Newcomb Secondary College are seeking 5 families to host a student from SMANSA.

Due to cultural difference, we prefer to partner our host students with an NSC student of the same gender. Host families will receive an information pack on how to best cater for their host student. If we receive more than 5 interested families, further discussions will occur.

If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Mrs. Sarah Stoneley at sarah.stoneley@education.vic.gov.au

Terima kasih banyak, semua!

(Thank you very much, everyone!)

Making Waves – sailing program

On Thursday, March 7^th, a small group of students set off in the bay with Huw and his colleagues to make connections with peers, learn a thing or two about the sailing boat we were on and enjoy the sea breeze.

We were lucky enough to be on the vessel that won the Sydney to Hobart race multiple times in its career, as well as several other accolades to its name.

Our students had the option to steer, learn about the parts of the vessel and assist in putting up the sail. They were given rope to practice their knot skills, which will be put into action next week on board.

It was a great morning out on the water and the students are looking forward to next week’s session – hopefully with some sunshine!

International Women's Day 2024 campaign theme was 'Inspire Inclusion'

When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world.

And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.

Collectively, let's forge a more inclusive world for women.

When women aren't present, we must ask: "If not, why not?"

When women are discriminated against, we must call out poor practice.

When the treatment of women is not equitable, we must take action.

And we must do this each time, every time.

Organizations, groups, and individuals worldwide can all play a part - in the community, at work, at home, and beyond.

To truly include women means to openly embrace their diversity of race, age, ability, faith, body image, and how they identify. Worldwide, women must be included in all fields of endeavour.

On an individual basis, it's important to understand, value and seek out the inclusion of women and girls. Additionally, sharing this knowledge, support and encouragement with others is key.

On an organizational or group basis, there are many ways to ensure the needs, interests and aspirations of women and girls are valued and included. Organizations and groups can #InspireInclusion through action in areas such as:

• forging women's economic empowerment
• recruiting, retaining and developing diverse talent
• supporting women and girls into leadership, decision-making, business and STEM
• designing and building infrastructure meeting the needs of women and girls
• helping women and girls make informed decisions about their health
• involving women and girls in sustainable agriculture and food security
• providing women and girls with access to quality education and training
• elevating women and girl's participation and achievement in sport
• promoting creative and artistic talent of women and girls
• addressing further areas supporting the advancement of women and girls

Are you in? Will you inspire inclusion?

Reference: IWD: International Women's Day 2024 campaign theme is 'Inspire Inclusion' (internationalwomensday.com)

Our Newcomb Secondary College Student Leaders attended a breakfast event held at GMHBA stadium on International Women’s Day.

Our dedicated staff held a morning tea to celebrate International Women's Day, it was great to take some time out together to celebrate all that we do together inside and outside of work as busy women.

Intermediate Girls Volleyball was held on the 8th of March! Our Team of 9 headed out to Corio Leisure time and played Matthew Flinders, Northern Bay and Bellarine Secondary.

All matches were very competitive, and saw the seahorses get a victory against Bellarine.

We would like to note how well the students represented the college, with Ash, Mike, Katelin and Zane showing fantastic Leadership on the day!

Thank you to Tracey for supporting on what was a fantastic day for all!!!

Go Seahorses.

BBBH FORUM 5^TH MARCH 2024

On Tuesday, 5^th March, our new group of inspiring Year 9 and 10 students began their Be Bold Be Heard journey. The program itself, has now grown to include 15 schools and 140 students.

The first forum was held at GMHBA stadium, seeing Nya Tut (North Geelong Secondary College student leader and member of BBBH) open the day with an enthralling speech about her journey in BBBH and completing in her completion of the Kokoda trek that impressed students, staff and community leaders immensely.

The first Forum is to inspire students to start identifying changes they can make in class, college and community that they would like to pursue (to tackle gender difference in student engagement, voice and agency) and Nya certainly launched them into this successfully. Students were then given guidance and advice on starting to allocate roles within a working team and some team building activities, led by Respectful Relationships leaders Raelene Newton and Rachel Johnston (pictured below).

After a quick morning tea, students fruit received further inspirations from our guest panel.

From left to right:

1. Mick O’Malley
2. Renee Garing
3. Lyndelle Zuccolin
4. Allyson Brown
5. Jade Hamilton
6. Nova Clough
7. Brad Headlam

Lyndelle Zuccolin, who is the founder and managing director of strategic management consultancy Just Add Colour and board director of Skate Australia and likes to challenge the way we think. Jade Hamilton, the General Manager of Lazarus Community Centre. A social worker who loves helping those that cannot help themselves encouraged students to ‘find their tribe’. Michelle Gerdtz is currently Chair for the AFL Barwon and eager to have netball equal to AFL in all the clubs. As many of the guests highlighted she also has had numerous roles in programs and from her experiences encouraged the students to “embrace those people who embrace you”, attach yourself to positive people and keep encouraging others”. Allyson Brown, the director of Everheal and the 4-Step LIFE formula programs. She encouraged the students to not let adversity be a barrier, embrace it positively, adapt and reset your journey. She told students to “set goals, know the why and do what you are passionate about”. Nova Clough is from the Geelong Project, which supports young people at risk of being homeless, stay in touch with their learning pathway. Her cheerful presence provided the girls with confidence to reach out to others for support, during tough circumstances and again highlighted the importance of being surrounded with the right people to achieve your own goals. Renee Garing, a PE teacher and ex-AFLW player for Geelong, talked of overcoming mental health challenges and valued the importance of having the right people around you. Mick O’Malley, the first male panellist for BBBH was overwhelmed by the discussion and acknowledged that he had not really considered (regrettably) the female perspective until he had his own daughter. Mick organises Kokoda treks and was invited to speak about his approach to empowering young people during such gruelling journeys. He talked about friendships, and highlighted hardship in his teens that reaffirmed this. He shared a quote he recalled “show me your friends and it will tell me all about you”. In addition to this he encouraged the girls to really consider two things about yourself: “The Who and The Why”.

The guests then went from table to table answering all the questions the students had conjured up. This was excellent and the students even formed some positive potential partnerships to support their actions going forward.

Full of inspiration, the students had a fantastic lunch and then went into some structured ‘quick wins’ led by Respectful Relationship’s Rachel Johnston. Interestingly, the room was still buzzing at the end of a long day and some of the quick wins and goals discussed were exciting. In the spirit of the event the students have identified that they would prefer to run some of the forums in the future, have more diverse guests (not sporty), more activities and updated surveys (2024). These will, of course, be important structural changes hereafter.

Our 2024 Be Bold Be Heard group will work through their action plan to implement positive change in their ‘quick wins’ and small projects across the school, with the guidance and mentorship from last year’s Be Bold Be Heard students in preparation for their next forum being held in May.

Stay tuned for this positive and exciting process!

Where You Can Eat

Where You Can Eat provides an up-to-date guide on all the food relief agencies across the Geelong region.

Please click on the logo below to access a downloadable resource providing you with information on when, where, how, and what food relief services are available near you. This document is also attached as a PDF for your convenience.

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 | M: 0409 960 129

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

School Avoidance Anxiety flyer PNG

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. 

Mr Curnick

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: