APC Newsletter Edition 6 2021 by albertparkcollege

EDITION 6 - SEPTEMBER 2021

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN

IMPORTANT DATES

FRIDAY 17 SEPTEMBER Last day of Term 3 MONDAY 4 OCTOBER First day of Term 4 TUESDAY 5 OCTOBER General Assessment Test (GAT) 11 OCTOBER - 15 OCTOBER Year 10 Camp (Covid restrictions may impact on the running of the camp.) MONDAY 18 OCTOBER Final Day for Year 12 students TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER Year 12 Breakfast MONDAY 25 OCTOBER Staff Professional Development Day 26 OCTOBER - 11 NOVEMBER IB Exams 27 OCTOBER - 17 NOVEMBER VCE Exams

▲

Artwork by Ms Schneider's year 7s

PRINCIPAL'S SAY

POSITIVITY IS PAYING OFF Steven Cook Foundation Principal

◄

At the start of this term we hoped the days of lockdown might be over. That wasn’t to be, but I want to give a collective thanks for the magnificent way everyone has kept teaching and learning and looking after each other. So far we’ve come through it in pretty good condition. Why? Inspired by our Positive Education philosophy, we’ve avoided negativity and demonstrated extraordinary kindness to each other. No one has given in to despair. There’s a genuine belief that things will be better. And in the meantime our positive attitude

has made us innovative and flexible in tackling the realities of running a school and keeping learning in lockdown. The stories from the Herald-Sun on the following pages (6, 7) in some ways says it all. While other parts of our society have engaged in despairing protest, we’ve found new ways to help each other. The Care Pack we sent to year-12 students was our way of keeping the traditions of the school alive and keeping teachers and students in touch in a special way when our regular end-ofschooling traditions weren’t allowed. The Care Pack was just one of our many ideas for staying together and strong, and in this edition of the newsletter you

THE CARE PACK WE SENT TO YEAR-12 STUDENTS WAS OUR WAY OF KEEPING THE TRADITIONS OF THE SCHOOL ALIVE AND KEEPING TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN TOUCH

Many staff members had something to celebrate over the weekend with the outcome of the AFL.

will find details of many others like the student-led Huddle and our competitive challenges for teachers and support staff. In addition, we have held an RUOK Day, several technology-free student wellbeing days and a specially organised Covid-19 vaccination clinic for our senior students. Importantly, by cutting back on many non-essential operations, we’ve been able to put resources into keeping teaching and learning going strongly, including running all SACs on schedule – something many other schools were not able to do. We’ve kept our community safe and together and I couldn’t be prouder of that achievement. My hope is that we can all be back at school together during the final term, and that our departing year-12 students will get to study together again briefly in the lead up to their final study vacation. Please have a relaxing holiday and to those not studying for the VCE and IB exams, make sure you have a good break from your screens, get outdoors, read and recharge for the final term.

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN

THE KINDNESS REVOLUTION ROLLS ON Timothy Nolan Assistant Principal, Positive Education

One of the things that has held us all together in this latest lockdown has been the Kindness Revolution that we began this year as a way of creating a gentler and more positive school culture. Over the course of the year, the Kindness Revolution’s main principles have been: 1. Being kind to yourself – by practicing self-care and positive self-talk. Don’t focus on your negatives, but recognise instead the things you can do well and the triumphs you experience daily. 2. Being kind to others – praising and supporting each other and paying it forward to someone else when someone is kind to you, but also finding small ways to brighten the day of others. 3. Being kind in the community – always looking to make a positive contribution within and outside the school, finding ways to make positive change out in the world.

WE NEED TO KEEP THINKING ABOUT HOW TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE BEAUTY, STRENGTH AND VITALITY OF EVERYONE AROUND US.

These have been focal points in Positive Education classes but also across year level activities, assemblies, and initiatives. It might not always come naturally to be kind; we can get caught up in life and what is happening around us. It has also been tested this year in the climate of extended lockdowns and disappointing news. But this makes it even more vital to reach out and be good to one another. Everyone needs kindness and we need to keep thinking about how to acknowledge the beauty, strength, and vitality of everyone around us. Please keep up the good work and keep looking after each other as we head into the last phase of the school year.

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN

CARE PACKS AND CARING TEACHERS MAKE THE NEWS

Ben Collis featured in the Herald Sun.

Sophie Williams with her new jersey.

▼

Two of our senior students – Isabella Flood and Ben Collis – have brightened the pages of the Herald-Sun with positive stories about our how we’ve gone to extra efforts to keep our VCE and IB squads connected and positive. We’ll let the articles tell the story, but just a little bit of background. Our Care Packs were hand delivered by Bernard and Sam from our café and alongside the traditional year-12 rugby top and other gifts each pack contained a personalised hand-written letter from teachers to students. We’ve had marvellous feedback on that from the students and their parents.

To support our year-12s we’ve gone to extra lengths, including sending out parcels of printed practice exams to make sure that the practice period was as normal and realistic as possible and also hassle free. We wanted to save the students the need to find a commercial copying place or try to do the exams online. It’s just a small part of the extra efforts our teachers are putting in to give everyone the chance to get the best results they can.

APC HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS IN RECENT WEEKS – AND IT’S ALL BEEN GOOD NEWS. Care Packs ready to go out

▲

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN He rald Sun/Sunday He rald Sun (Me lbourne , Australia) - Se p te mbe r 8, 2021 - p age 21 September 8, 2021 | Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia) | Melbourne, Australia | Pag e 21

He rald Sun/Sunday He rald Sun (Me lbourne , Australia) - Se p te mbe r 2, 2021 - p age 10 September 2, 2021 | Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia) | Melbourne, Australia | Pag e 10

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN

TEACHERS STEPPING UP

Mathew from IT enjoying the weather.

▼

Luy Render has been out rain hail or shine.

▼

Our little community is doing its best to keep everyone fit during the lockdown, including through a challenge to see who can do the most measured steps during September, it's been organised by Alex Holburton who works at Reception and helps administer our IB program. We've had some great pictures from people's walks, interacting with everyone's efforts. It's been such a lovely mood lifter and some of you have never looked so fit. There's still half of September to go and the holidays will give us all even more time to get away from our screens and enjoy the (hopefully) lovely weather. If there's a take-out from the last year and a half, it's that the little things, like getting out for a walk or a run, really can help. Thanks for joining in, and keep going!

Pour encourager les autres, here’s a screenshot of the leading steppers at time of publication. The IT crowd is setting the pace!

STAYING STRONG IN LOCKDOWN

STUDENTS HUDDLE TOGETHER

One of the positive results of the 2020 lockdown was the creation of The Huddle.

IN THE LATEST EDITION, STUDENTS PROVIDED ONLINE CLASSES IN YOGA, MINDFUL ART, FITNESS AND EVEN AN ONLINE TEA PARTY

Necessity as they say is the mother of all invention, and when our senior students became separated for the first time last year they came up with their own solution – a newspaper edited by the student leaders aimed at helping them reconnect and shared ideas about how to keep on top of things, keep amused and keep looking after each other.

In the latest edition, students provided online classes in Yoga, mindful art, fitness and even an online tea party. We particularly applaud the fact that during lockdown, when they could be forgiven for looking inwards, our students have included encouragement to give to charity. The future is in good hands.

You’ll find in each edition of The Huddle reviews about what to stream, what to cook and what to read – along with hints about staying positive and staying focused on the game of studying.

APC DEBATING 2021

FABULOUS FIVE AND SENSATIONAL SIX KEEP POWERING ON Nicole Comelli Humanities

▼

The Year 11 Debate team, otherwise known as the Fabulous Five. Clockwise from top left: Maddie Burns, Sofia Cofano, Alyssa Seckinger-Crow, Anindo Minifie and Ella Tobin.

APC Debating has been in full swing since Term 1, with Year 9-12 teams collectively competing in over 25 debates so far this year. With over two hundred and fifty schools, fifteen hundred teams, four grades, twenty regions, five rounds and a seven-night finals series, the Debaters Association of Victoria’s Schools Competition is the largest English-language debating competition in the world. Despite the shift from face-to-face to remote learning, APC has been fortunate enough to continue competition for debating over the past months with little disruption. During a time where the perspective of ‘community’ has shifted, debating coaches Ms Aarons and Miss Comelli have been incredibly fortunate to have maintained regular and purposeful contact with the debating students to ensure they can still participate in their extracurricular activities during lockdown. With teams understanding the privileged position they have been in to still collaborate and work together during this time, morale in debating has never been higher. Coached by Ms Aarons since 2019, the Year 11 Debate team has demonstrated that persistence and hard work are the key to success, with this season of competition being their most successful yet. The team, consisting of Maddy Burns, Sofia Cofano, Anindo Minifie, Alyssa Seckinger-Crow and Ella Tobin, has been undefeated this entire year, and will be competing in the quarter finals on Thursday 7 October.

THIS INCREDIBLE OUTCOME MEANS THAT THE TEAM IS IN THE TOP EIGHT TEAMS OF YEAR - 11 DEBATERS IN THE STATE

This incredible result means that the team are in the top eight teams of Year 11 debaters in the state. The Year 11’s positive approach toward supporting one another and highlighting each other’s strengths has been one of the key ingredients to the team’s ability to overcome even the most challenging of debate topics. Adjudicators have often praised the team’s coherence of arguments and confidence in delivery, a direct result of the team’s tight-knit antics. Alyssa said that she attributes the team’s success to their ability to “think on their feet, work together and bounce ideas off each other.” We wish the Year 11s the best of luck for their quarter final debate next month.

APC DEBATING 2021

Also of honourable mention are the Year 9 debaters who proceeded into the first round of finals in September. The team, consisting of Sterling Baird, Nikki Briggs, Lily Hall, Harry Langton, Hannah Lawrence and Matilda Lester, had a very successful year and, despite their loss in the first round of final, should be incredibly proud of their mostly undefeated season. When asked what the best part of debating has been, Matilda expressed that ‘learning more about writing persuasive, cohesive speeches and practicing public speaking’ are skills that she has ‘applied in other areas of her schooling’ and that these skills have really helped her overall school performance this year. Whilst the senior debating competition is slowly drawing to a close, the start of Term 3 marked the beginning of

◄

the Junior Schools Program for keen Year 7 and 8 debaters. With two teams running this year, it has been a fantastic opportunity for Year 7 and 8 students to work together to mentor one another and develop rapport whilst developing the fundamental skills of debating. The Debaters Association of Victoria adapted their training to an online format for students in remote learning, with access to a range of resources to support first-time debaters in building the skills necessary to partake in what, for many, is their first experience debating. Opportunity for the 2022 debating program will be available to students in February next year. If you are interested or have any questions about debating, please email Ms Aarons at: lisaaarons@albertparkcollege.vic.edu.au

The Year 9 Debate team, otherwise known as the Sensational Six. Clockwise from top left: Sterling Baird, Nikki Briggs, Matilda Lester, Lily Hall, Harry Langton and Hannah Lawrence.

A FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY FOR YEAR 7 AND 8 STUDENTS TO WORK TOGETHER TO MENTOR ONE ANOTHER AND DEVELOP RAPPORT WHILST DEVELOPING THE FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS OF DEBATING

LIBRARY NEWS

STUDENTS AND STAFF CATCH UP ON THEIR READING LISTS Jess Zanoni Librarian

There’s been lots to celebrate and get involved with this month in the virtual library. We have loved staying connected to the APC Library community on our Library Google Classroom during remote learning. Thanks to all book-loving students who engage with this space! August 14-22 was National Science Week. This was a great week for students to peruse our fantastic selection of science themed eBooks and research material on our library database. We also curated a Clickview playlist of science videos for APC students to watch, featuring films like 2040, Hidden Figures, and David Attenborough documentaries. We challenged students to upload a selfie to our Library Google Classroom with a book they’ve been enjoying this

lockdown. It was fantastic to see the range of books that have been keeping students entertained and stimulated. International Literacy Day took place on 8 September. This is a significant day carved out by UNESCO to recognise the value of education and literacy. According to UNESCO, equal engagement and participation in society hinges on the ability to read and write, therefore, literacy should be upheld as a basic human right. This was a great opportunity to promote accessibility resources that the library offers. These include resources such as audiobooks and text-to-speech software (available on the Library Guide Google Site).

LIBRARY NEWS

DAVINA BELL’S THE END OF THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN LOVE WINNING THE AWARD FOR OLDER READERS. STUDENTS CAN BORROW THIS BOOK ON OUR E-PLATFORM

We also celebrated Indigenous Literacy Day on 1 September. This was an important day dedicated to promote and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, stories, and language. Our e-platform has a great selection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry by contemporary Indigenous authors. The Rotary Club of Albert Park generously donate $1 to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation for every book recorded on the Premiers' Reading Challenge website by an APC student. So far we have raised over $700. The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) awards were announced in August, with Davina Bell’s The end of the world is bigger than love winning the award for older readers. Students can borrow this book on our e-platform. Our second-ever APC book club was held over Google Meet on August 24. English teacher Kathryn Riosa hosted a wonderful evening where we discussed Alice Pung’s novel One Hundred Days. We are currently accepting submissions for our annual Library Bag Design competition. The theme is 'reading can take you places', which might speak to a feeling, place or space. We are astounded by the quality of submissions that have been received so far. For more information please follow this link. To connect with the library during lockdown, students are encouraged to join the Library Space Google Classroom with the code p5qtyvk. Students also have 24/7 access to thousands of eBooks and audiobooks through our subscription to ePlatform.

Theme:

WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

OUR POET WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE GARETH INSPIRES POETS OF TOMORROW Gareth Morgan Writer-in-residence

Our Poet in Residence, Gareth Morgan, is doing great things with our budding writers of tomorrow. We’ll be bringing you updates on the his successes over the coming months. Here' his first report. For the first writing workshop, we started with something a little bit left field: homophonic translation. What this means is translating a text into English, but instead of translating for 'sense', translating for 'sound'. When you do this, you can come up with phrases that would basically be impossible to land upon using normal, rational writing methods. There is a sort of magical aura to the results of this literary experiment, as well as a joie de vivre, a sense of fun, which you can detect in the example published.

Two year-seven students, Calum Lam and Andrew Koulaxizelli started with the phrase, in English, 'Live, laugh, love'. They translated this into Greek (with help from Google Translate), which gives us 'zise gela agapa'. From the sound of this, they came up with the enigmatic, delightfully cruel phrase: 'See the helper suffer'. They then plugged this new phrase back into Translate, and repeated the exercise. Here is the poem in full, which might be titled after its root.

I LEARNT THAT POEMS COULD BE MORE THAN JUST SENTENCES THAT RHYME; THEY CAN BE SHOWN IN DIFFERENT WAYS Isabella Kouretas, Year 8

Live, Laugh, Love See the helper suffer. Delete his voice though! Nah, hippo-fairy. He grabs teat time. Funny. Toucan and cane nerding Pop potato.

BAY STREET NEWS

THE KINDNESS AT BAY ST Duncan Box Leading Teacher: Positive Education, Da Vinci

SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS PRODUCE A RIPPLE EFFECT OF POSITIVE EMOTION, AND EVEN THOSE WITNESSING THESE ACTS FEEL A LIFT

At the beginning of Semester Two at the Da Vinci Campus we launched our ‘Kindness Cards’ for staff and students. The initiative encourages students and teachers to call out acts of kindness by passing on a card. The card prompts its recipient to look out for further acts of kindness and to make a visible effort to acknowledge those efforts. We know that even simple acts of kindness produce a ripple effect of positive emotion, and even those witnessing these acts feel a lift. Research shows that lifting positive emotions in this way reduces stress and anxiety, and promotes a sense of calmness and happiness.

The cards are already circulating, and have been given to students for helping each other in class, then passed on between students for giving support when it was really needed. We hope that this initiative as part of the Positive Education Team’s Kindness Revolution will build on our amazing culture at the college and ripple out even further among our wider community. So with this, I encourage you to consider a few acts of kindness this week towards peers, colleagues or even strangers as a small way to lift people in these challenging times.

STAFF NEWS

RACHAEL REACHES FINALS Maths and physics teacher Rachael Gore has reached the finals of the 2021 Outstanding Teacher Award. The award recognises teachers who have demonstrated excellence in teaching practice at Victorian government secondary schools. It also focuses on teacher efforts to improve student achievement, engagement and wellbeing. Those of us who know Rachael, as fellow staff members and students, know what a great job she does and how her innovative work has helped revolutionise the way mathematics and other disciplines are taught right across the school. Good luck Rachael.

CARO HAS BEEN TEACHING ON THE MOVE We all know how our teachers go the extra mile for their students. Our English and Food Technology teacher Caro Flood demonstrated this literally when she was caught up in a Tier-2 exposure and required to get herself Covid tested during a busy teaching time. What better way to while away the hours in a queue than run a class on Google Meets?

After a bit of wrangling, Caro has found the ideal location to place her laptop.

▲

STAFF NEWS

UNDERDOGS GET THEIR MOMENT IN THE SUN

WOOHOO! OR SHOULD I SAY, WOOFWOOF! LOOK OUT MAX GAWN, CODY WEIGHTMAN IS BACK

When the principal of a school barracks for Melbourne in 2021, the school newsletter has a duty to talk about the footy. “Write something pro-Melbourne or else!” It’s a good thing the editor also supports the Dees. Who will you be cheering for? The Doggies or the Demons? The workingclass westies, or the long suffering forever heartbroken red and blue, ski-chalet dwellers? Here are the opposing line-ups of staff members, with some words of passion and loyalty that may help you make up your minds.

◄

Koda the rescue has been following the doggies for 9 (dog) years and is excited at the prospect of lifting another trophy!

STAFF NEWS

I FEEL LIKE WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE EMOTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESS YET

DOGGIES Veronica Ferrie (Coach) Alicia Daniher (Captain) Alice Watson Tayla Brown Mathew Sullivan Lachlan Gell VS DEMONS Adrian Repka (Coach) Kathryn Riosa (Captain) Steve Cook (Medical Sub) Tamara Palfrey Layla Speed Nathaniel Taylor Dennis Glover

“Woohoo! Or should I say, woofwoof! Look out Max Gawn, Cody Weightman is back and has a few screamers to get out of his system! GO DOGS!!” Veronica Ferrie

“I’m so proud of the Melbourne Football Club. There have been some great men associated with the club and the heart and the belief in the current team is something to be proud of. They’re already winners in my book.”

"After our performance last weekend I'm feeling fairly confident that this is FINALLY our year. Mostly just trying to workshop ways to sneak into Perth for the game. Ideas?”

Kathryn Riosa

Layla Speed

"My family and I are thrilled to be in the grand final but are certainly keeping a lid on the excitement. I feel like we do not know how to deal with the emotions associated with success yet!"

“I remember Melbourne winning the grand final... Following them has been a bit like enduring a long, cold winter, but now the winter has broken and I am looking forward to a long summer of famous Melbourne victories, starting next Saturday.”

" GO THE DOGGIES #YieldToNone" Alicia Danaher

Tamara Palfrey

Steve Cook

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE SCHOOL

THE CAFE AT BAY ST GETS EVEN GREENER Adua Cipolato Hospitality Coordinator

Throughout the course of this year Cafe has focused on making changes that align with the APC environmental vision. Each group of students that participates in the program is asked to identify areas within the physical space of Cafe where improvements could be made by way of making Cafe more Eco friendly. Here's what we came up with:

1. We have changed our plastic storage containers to glass jars. We repurposed these containers to Sam and Bernard (Renatta Catering) and also some did go to the maintenance department.

4. We have been looking at other ways to line trays instead of using baking paper that we haven't ordered for a very long time.

2. We have introduced more ceramic mugs that have come from staff homes in an attempt to stop our heavy use of bio cups and lids. It is our goal that by the end of the year Cafe will package free.

5. The students are always asked to create the menu for the day using produce that we have on hand and available. By the time we get to Friday the focus is to have used all of the fresh produce for the week, sometimes their menu planning needs to be adjusted to achieve this goal.

BY THE TIME WE GET TO FRIDAY THE FOCUS IS TO HAVE USED ALL OF THE FRESH PRODUCE FOR THE WEEK

3. Some staff have kindly donated spoons and forks that they no longer have need for, this will help us to minimise the amount of single use bio forks and spoons that we are using.

6. We are constantly thinking about how much water we use throughout the course of each day and making sure that we turn off all switches before we finish up for the day

YEAR - 10 NEWS

YEAR 10s KEEP CHAMPIONING THE ENVIROMENT Caroline Tan-Wong, Elena Panagiotidis, Olivia Daramanis and Narissa Burns

This year, each year level is supporting a charity. In year 10, we are supporting the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF). ACF is Australia’s national environment organisation that campaigns against pollution and devastation, as well as for the preservation of the natural environment. For the last two weeks of term 3, the year-10 ambassadors ran a Conservation Challenge to show our support for the Australian Conservation Foundation. The aim was to build awareness for the ACF as well as educate ourselves on conservation matters. Initiatives involved included a conservation walk, a local environment cleanup and a conservation garden reinvention. For more information, check out the APC Instagram! It was a great way to stay busy in lockdown whilst also doing something good for ourselves and the environment. Thank you to everyone who participated in the challenge. We loved seeing all your work.

VIS ARTS SHOWCASE

CREATIVITY CONTINUES AT HOME

VIS ARTS SHOWCASE