EDITION 7 - OCTOBER 2021
2022 COLLEGE CAPTAINS
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IMPORTANT DATES
MONDAY 1 NOVEMBER All students return to classes full-time onsite TUESDAY 2 NOVEMBER Public Holiday – Melbourne Cup Day 4 – 12 NOVEMBER Year 11 Exams period 15 – 19 NOVEMBER Year 11 to Year 12 Orientation Program 18 – 26 NOVEMBER Year 10 Exams Period THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER Report Writing Day FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER Year 12 Presentation evening MONDAY 22 NOVEMBER Music in Concert — Lawler Theatre FRIDAY 26 NOVEMBER Final day for Year 11 students 26 – 28 NOVEMBER Art Show 29 NOVEMBER – 3 DECEMBER Year 10 to Year 11 Orientation program
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Year 12 Studio Arts
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PRINCIPAL'S SAY
COMING BACK, READY TO LEARN
Steven Cook Foundation Principal Outstanding teacher recognised It's great news that we're all coming back to school, but while we've been at home some great work has been done. Last week members of the school attended an online ceremony for the announcement of the Victorian Government’s Education Excellence Awards. I’m incredibly proud to tell you that the winner of the award for Outstanding Secondary Teacher in Victoria was our very own Rachael Gore – a leading teacher in the STEM disciplines. Many of you will know Rachael as a very popular teacher of mathematics and physics in our VCE and IB streams as well as an enthusiastic participant in our extra-curricular activities like public speaking and our positive education programs. What makes this award even more exciting for the school is that Rachael came to us as a graduate, straight out of university and has developed her skills and gained her experience almost exclusively at our school. Her success is not only a recognition of her own hard
HER SUCCESS IS NOT ONLY A RECOGNITION OF HER OWN HARD WORK AND TALENT, BUT AN ENDORSEMENT OF OUR HIGH DEMAND, TEAMBASED LEARNING CULTURE
work and talent, but an endorsement of our high demand, team-based learning culture, where teachers share their knowledge and experience with their colleagues. Great teachers thrive in this sort of environment. One of Rachael’s greatest contributions to APC has been to be part of the major improvements in mathematics and physics, where our new approaches to teaching, including Rachael’s own innovations, have led to stellar results across all year levels, including year
12. Her students have included those achieving perfect year-12 scores, putting them among the top students in the state. In her acceptance speech, Rachael generously acknowledged the school and her colleagues. You can read her brief acceptance speech on page 6. Well done Rachael. I’m sure your students will think you a worthy winner too.
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PRINCIPAL'S SAY
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Our students enjoying the simple pleasure of playing chess face to face.
What’s a school without students?
Let’s keep the school open
We’re so glad to have all our students back full time from Monday. The students are relishing the opportunity to be back at school. Among them are our year-12 class. They’ve returned in force to study together and be near their teachers during SWOTVAC. We hope it makes up for missing so much of their big school year.
I’m incredibly proud of the way our SWOTVAC students have behaved on their return to the college, including maintaining their Covidsafe protocols. They’ve set a great example to all returning students. And I just want to remind everyone that given the amount of Covid in the community, inlcuding the local community, that observing good practice will help us stay open hopefully until the end of the school year, which still has many weeks to run.
The year-12s are now well into their exam period and we wish them luck. It’s been a tough, heavily interrupted experience for them. Their teachers have shared their journey and gone to great lengths to support them. We hope with the easing of restrictions we can help them celebrate their hard work in style.
Let’s get learning together.
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APC COMES BACK TO LIFE
School resumes full-time for everyone from Monday, but we've been welcoming back separate year levels, starting with our year-12s for the last two weeks. Our classrooms, corridors and outdoor recreation spaces are buzzing again.
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EXCELLENCE IN MATHS
RACHAEL’S OUTSTANDING TEACHER AWARD ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
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I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE MATHS TEAM FOR THEIR ONGOING WORK AND DEDICATION. WE HAVE WORKED TIRELESSLY TO MAKE MATHEMATICS MARVELLOUS.
Rachael Gore - the recepient of the 2021 Outstanding Secondary Teacher award.
Thank you. Congratulations to other finalists. First I would like to thank the Department of Education for this opportunity. Thank you to Steve Cook and the rest of the principal team at Albert Park College. It is through their guidance and exemplary professional learning program that I have gone from a student teacher to an award recipient in 8 short years.
On a personal note, I would like to thank my parents and my wife Millie for their ongoing support. I would like to accept this award in honour of my sister in law, Lucy, who is facing some personal health challenges. Lucy is herself an exemplary primary school teacher with a passion for equity in education. We have a shared love of learning and she is an inspiration for my work in the classroom. Thank you.
At Albert Park we have taken department initiatives and contextualised them to our community to ensure there is lasting impact in numeracy and all key department goals. I would like to thank the maths team for their ongoing work and dedication. We have worked tirelessly to make mathematics marvellous.
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EXCELLENCE IN MATHS
PHENOMENAL MATHS TEST RESULTS
Rachael and her fellow maths teachers' work is getting results. Rachael Gore has reported phenomenal scores for APC students in this year’s Australian Mathematics Trust annual mathematics competition. All students taking advanced mathematics participated in this year’s competition, achieving 50 Distinctions and 2 High Distinctions. Our junior division outperformed the nation in every category of award, with 73 per cent of APC students receiving a credit or above (compared to 55 per cent nationally), 28 per cent of APC students receiving a distinction or above (compared to 20 per cent nationally), and one year-8 student, Martin Anderson receiving a Prize Certificate after scoring in the top 0.3 per cent of students nationally.
Well done everyone. APC mathematics is powering ahead.
OUR TOP STUDENTS WERE AS FOLLOWS • Martin Anderson (100)
• Jamie Tall (95)
• Ruby Wyant (90)
• Jimmy Cao (99)
• Jocelyn Doig (94)
• Artemio Toscano (88)
• Lachlan Gordon (98)
• Elise Carron (92)
• Speriden Peterson (88)
• Ethan Stark (98)
• Rohan Jain (91)
• Rebecca Lang (88)
• Dann Nyguen (97)
• Jane Zorbas (91)
• Jesse Fagg (84)
• Alfie Band (95)
• Lucian Van Horne (91)
• Miranda Vaz (83)
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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
OUR 2022 SCHOOL CAPTAINS
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From left: Maddy Burns, Ella Tobin, Jitse De Jong, Alyssa Seckinger-Crow and Sofia Cofano.
OUR NEW SCHOOL LEADERS FOR 2022 HAVE JUST BEEN ANNOUNCED. WE CONGRATULATE THEM ON THEIR ELECTION.
CAPTAINS
Alyssa Seckinger-Crow and Ella Tobin VICE-CAPTAINS
Jitse De Jong, Maddy Burns and Sofia Cofano
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LOCKDOWN ACTIVITIES
APC DEBATERS FINISH IN THE TOP FOUR IN THE STATE
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Senior debaters: Sofia Cofano and Anindo Minifie
Last month we wished our Year 11 debating team every success as they approached the next stage of the Debater’s Association of Victoria’s finals competition. Up against the formidable Werribee Secondary College, the debaters formed the negative side on the topic ‘That we should establish an international court to prosecute crimes against the environment’. They had just one hour with the topic to prepare, and still managed to raise some excellent points including that encouraging nation states to prevent climate change would have a greater impact.
The debate was not only interesting and topical, it was also extremely close. Three adjudicators watched on, but only one was swayed by our team. Nonetheless, we congratulate Alyssa Seckinger-Crow, Anindo Minifie, Ella Tobin, Maddy Burns, and Sofia Cofano on a fantastic season. Finishing in the top four of the state is a significant achievement and has us all excited for what the 2022 season will bring.
APC RETAINS ITS STATUS AS ONE OF THE TOP DEBATING FORCES IN THE STATE
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LOCKDOWN ACTIVITIES
ELLA JOINS GRETA AT YOUTH4CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN MILAN
Ella Simons of 9F represented Australia in the pre-COP26 conference in Milan, Youth4Climate. She took part in conferences protests, workshopped with Greta Thunberg and presented at multiple talks, panels and summits during that time. She was the youngest delegate at the conference was also the MC at the last School Strike 4 Climate where she spoke with passion and eloquence. Ella is a passionate advocate and her efforts have gained national and international media attention. Here are links to some of the amazing coverage she has generated.
• Save the Children Blog • SBS • ABC Radio Nartional Breakfast • ABC Melbourne Radio • Channel 4 • Museo Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo Da Vinci Museum Milan • Euro News
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Ella protesting on the streets of Milan with Greta Thunberg.
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LOCKDOWN ACTIVITIES
GENDER EQUALITY DAY A BIG SUCCESS Nina Buchler Year 7
This month year-7 ambassador Nina Buchler took the lead in putting together the program for our Gender Equality celebrations. We asked her to tell us about it. Gender Equality Day is something that is very close to my heart, and the experience of trying to put it together during such hard times was extremely rewarding. Among the many things they learned on the day, the year 7 and 8 students took away a new understanding about the effect on everyone’s lives that gender inequality and dimscrimation against women has. Although Australian women come from a country where most can choose the careers and lives they want, there are still many things that prevent them from doing so, and the same thing is happening all over the world.
Our guest speaker Tanja Kovac is a very well respected advocate for gender rights. She has worked in Emily’s list and was chief of staff for the late Victorian Labor parliamentarian Fiona Richardson. She strives to educate younger people on the issues surrounding gender inequality because she knows that they will be the ones to fight it in the future. It took me around four months to get all of the particulars for the day organised. Although we were not able to follow through with every activity because of the lockdowns, getting the presentation up and running was still a wonderful step forward to what will hopefully become a growing tradition in our school community.
I DECIDED TO TACKLE THIS PROJECT BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGHT IN THE SMALL WAYS THAT I CAN FOR GIRLS' RIGHTS AND FOR THEIR VOICES TO BE HEARD
I decided to tackle this project because I have been trying to fight in the small ways that I can for girls' rights and for their voices to be heard, and wanted to pass on that passion so that other girls and boys will be inspired to do the same.
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SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
INTRODUCING A BRAND NEW RESOURCE RECOVERY SYSTEM Alyssa Seckinger-Crow and Jitse De Jong Year 11 ▼
APC still sends too much of its waste to landfill. In fact, we estimate that around 80 per cent of that landfill waste could be recycled. We’re doing something about it. APC is continually reducing its impact on the environment, and has been changing habits and systems to make positive change.
IT’S BEEN FANTASTIC TO SEE STUDENTS DOING THEIR BEST, CHANGING THEIR HABITS AND HELPING MAKE THIS AN EFFECTIVE NEW SYSTEM
Get Excited for Ride 2 School Day on 3 November
At the start of Term 3, APC moved to a sustainable waste system: the Resource Recovery System, ensuring that what we generate doesn’t end up in a pile of rubbish, adding to the growing waste crisis. Instead, we now have waste stations that separate rubbish into five main categories. This ensures that all APC’s resources are reused and repurposed, decreasing our school footprint. Soft plastics are now being made into new items like play equipment and fence posts, the paper APC uses is made into recycled paper and all our food is
composted into usable soil. The system includes: Compost (green), Soft Plastics (orange), Co-mingled Recycling (yellow), Landfill (red), Paper and Cardboard (blue). For the past few months, the Enviro Team has been educating students on the new bin system, ensuring it works effectively. It’s been fantastic to see all students doing their best, changing their habits and helping make this an effective new system. With the help of some enviro team students, a bin audit will soon give us a clear picture of the success of the Resource Recovery System. More updates to come!
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READING NEWS
IN OCTOBER APC HOSTED A NEW FIRST: A SYNCHRONOUS READING HOUR!
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English teacher Ms Fiona Wright
As the rain poured out our windows and lockdown continued, we invited our community, students, their parents, teachers and all APC staff to disconnect from their screens and spend an hour immersed in reading. We asked you to share your reading experience with us by tagging us on the gram and telling us what you were reading. Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 epic A Little Life topped the reading list, with many of you telling us that you were devouring the critically acclaimed best-seller. Lots of you read with younger children at home so classics like Green Eggs and Ham also made the list. Thanks for joining in on our commitment to becoming more avid and engaged readers. We are excited about these first steps in developing our reading community as a college. If you missed out on participating in The Reading Hour have a look at the event catalogue which contains links to our platforms as well as student and staff recommendations. Stay tuned for more information about the college’s reading initiatives including book clubs, information events and competitions. A big and heartfelt thank you to the college’s librarian team who were the inspiration behind The Reading Hour effort and who continue to work creatively to inspire the next generation of readers.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
“Reading is the key enabler of learning for academic proficiency across all subject areas and over all grades” - Daggett and Hasselbring (2002)
READING REWARDS Studies have shown that sustained pleasure reading is associated with increased empathy, social connection and citizenship.
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THE READING HOUR
BOOK REVIEW: LITTLE LIFE BY HANYA YANAGIHARA ▼
Teacher Kat Riosa's daughter Zara joined in!
THE BOOKS WE WERE READING • A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara • Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk • On The Road - Jack Kerouac • The Morning Star - Karl Ove Knausgaard • Women Don’t Owe You Pretty Florence Given • Feminst Theory - Bell Hooks • 1984 - George Orwell
By Andre Karabajakian
By Mia Cerantonio Pisera
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is one of my all-time favorite books. It's written beautifully and it's a slow burn with 720 pages but every page is filled with words that speak more than just images and emotions. It has dark themes exploring topics of child grooming, sexual assault, self-harm and that's just to name a few. But it also features topics of relationships, ways of coping with trauma, and caring for one another.
A Little Life chronicles the narrative of a group of four friends Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcom. However, Jude is the central character. It has to be one of the most depressing and traumatic books I have ever read. This book is written quite beautifully but it does explore some heavy topics and it is not a book for the faint of heart.
The main character is Jude and he has three other amazing friends who meet in university. Due to Jude having extreme past trauma and not being able to open up about it, it explores how his friends help him and care for him without crossing the friendship line. The book is about his life from his childhood to his fifties and it goes back and forwards from different events in his lifetime. It displays how hard it can be for people to accept help and love, how traumatic events can wreck your life, and how evil and how great some people are. It is devastating and beautiful at the same time. It's a long and easy read but can be very mentally challenging sometimes. It is just an unforgettable book. Five stars.
The book documents the four friends moving to New York and trying to make their way in life. The four friends are complex and rich characters. The book is broken up into seven sections. Yanagihara’s writing is brutal, painful and honest. For me, the take home message from my reading was that you can’t find happiness when everything feels bleak and hopeless. While Jude finds happiness this is tainted by his past. This is the type of book that I had a love-hate relationship with. It is quite traumatic and I had to take a break before I was able to finish it. If you decide to read A Little Life be sure to do a little background reading first as the book deals with a lot of heavy topics and dark themes.
• The Rose of the ANZAC Boys - Jackie French • This is what Happy Looks Like - Jennifer E Smith • Les Miserables - Victor Hugo • To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee • War and Peace - Tolstoy
HANYA YANAGIHARA’S 2015 EPIC A LITTLE LIFE TOPPED THE READING LIST, WITH MANY OF YOU TELLING US THAT YOU WERE DEVOURING THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BEST-SELLER
• Alyzon Whitestarr - Isobelle Carmody
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LIBRARY NEWS
PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGE SMASHES RECORD
After so many months staring at our screens during lockdown, it has been a real joy to welcome students and staff back into the library. While we are big advocates of the eBooks and audiobooks presented by ePlatform, nothing beats strolling through the sunny bookshelves and selecting a story or two to take home with you. Speaking of bringing books home, we have a new batch of library bags heading to the printers which will be available later this term. Congratulations to this year’s design winner, Zoe Avotins (11J). We had many students enter the competition, which challenged participants to capture the idea that ‘reading can take you places’. The transportative power of reading has been a blessing during lockdown and we thank all students for their creative interpretations of this theme. The Premiers’ Reading Challenge has also come to a close, with many students impressing us with their prolific reading. This year, 900 books were tallied since May, which compares to 597 last year. With the $1 per book fundraising drive, this equates to $988 to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (including the $5 per book bonus during Book Week). The Rotary Club of Albert Park are donating this money on the school’s behalf, so we thank them for generously supporting this initiative. The student who completed the most amount of books in the challenge was Radha Buyya (7B) who completed an
astounding 100 books. Coming in second place was Thy Mai (7C) and in joint third position with 35 books was Erin Williams (10E) and Maria Clara Ferreira (9F). The Positive Education class who read the most as a team was 8E. This class will be rewarded with a presentation from popular YA author Anna Morgan during Pos Ed class in the coming weeks. We look forward to sharing a new chapter in the library with you all. Here’s to once again spending lunchtimes and recesses chatting about book recommendations and lending library books to you!
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From top: Radha Buyya, Thy Mai, Erin Williams and Maria Clara Ferrera.
Veronica, Jess, Haydyn and Clive
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ARTS NEWS
PATTERNS, LIFE DRAWINGS AND JEFFREY SMART. OUR ARISTS ARE TAKING INSPIRATION FROM MANY PLACES.
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Here is some of the great work our art students did during lockdown.
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ARTS NEWS
YEAR 12 STUDIO WORKS
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