March 2007
Principal’s Report
As we reach the end of term we can look back with some pride on student
achievements. Amongst these I include:
- Students sitting the first Year 12 assessment tasks
- Our first Year 11 ‘group’
- The wonderful experiences at the Year 7 & 8 camps
- The choir singing in my office on a Friday lunchtime
- The tremendous tone at both the swimming and the athletics sports
with students enjoying the chance to participate
- Mary’s success at the national ACMI awards with her flash presentation
- Students in the community- from the Year 9s with their City Experience
program, the band at the Lee St primary school fete
- hrough to the choir and Callum participating in the re-opening of
the Fitzroy Town Hall
- The participation of students in inter school sports
- The intellectual challenge presented to students in class and the
positive response they are giving to this
- The expansion of the instrumental music program with the inclusion
of strings for the first time
- The high take up of VCE and VET programs by Year 10 students
- Our successful information session and barbecue
- Next term promises to be just as busy
Have a happy and healthy break.
Arts Blitz
Congratulations Emil
Congratulations to Emil of year 7 on winning the primary school prize
in the Art Blitz competition at Kingston Arts Centre.
In Arts Blitz you have to make a piece of art that relates to a topic,
but you only get the topic 24 hours before it’s due in. The topic
was cycles. I made a screen print of the life ‘Career Your Lifestyle
Expo’ on June cycle of an echidna inside a human eye. I won the primary
school prize even though I’m in high school because I’m not
thirteen yet. The prize was $100.
Careers website
Students have access to a range of career related information via the
‘careers@fhs’ website. Students can access the website via the
school intranet. The website contains information on career planning,
pathways to a career, occupations, industry information etc to help students
explore their options. Students are encouraged to visit the website and
to seek further assistance and information from the careers counsellor.
Performing Arts news
Last week 18 of our students attended ‘A Carnivale’ at the
newly opened Fitzroy Town Hall. Fitzroy High School students were invited
to open the event singing our national anthem. The Carnivale was attended
by many people from local nursing homes and many sang along with the students.
Thanks to the organisers, the students even got lunch. The Fitzroy Town
Hall looks great. Video footage of the event will be available to students
shortly. Many thanks to all those who attended, I know many in the community
really appreciate it.
2007 Production
After much searching, we have chosen a musical this year, ‘Blood
Brothers’ by Willy Russell. ‘Blood Brothers’ tells the
tragic tale of fraternal twins who are separated at birth. One brother
is raised in a family of great privilege and one brother is raised in
poverty. Even with their different socioeconomic backgrounds, the two
boys end up becoming best friends until a misunderstanding leads to a
tragic ending. The music is great (produced 1983), and the script contains
all the best elements of dramatic story telling – comedy, suspense,
tragedy and beautifully written characters.
Currently we are building a list of students, from all year levels, who
are interested in participating in the production and early next term
watch out for more information about script reading, role descriptions,
production roles, casting and other rehearsal details.
There are some scripts available for perusal for those interested in reading
the script over the holidays. See Helen M on Friday, last day of term.
Students selected to go to the Alpine School
Six students from Year 9 have been selected to attend the Alpine
School in Term 3. Congratulations to Alice, Georgina, Shanae, Bryn,
Alex and Dexter who submitted an excellent application. Below are some
extracts from their submission deatiling part of the process they went
through:
As a team, we believe that being able to support each other is a vital
component in a strong, resilient community.
We brainstormed our ideas for what our community project could be.
By talking through many different options about what our project could
be, we eventually reached a unified decision. It was a long and difficult
discussion which started off with many conflicting points of view but
eventually we combined all our thoughts into a single project. We didn't
always agree with each other at times and there were some of us who occasionally
needed to have a break.
To decide on a final project, the team set aside an empty class room
that could be our Alpine School space. After spending 3 - 4 days in that
class room we emerged as a co-operative team with a single community project,
to improve the welfare of youth in our community.
Team Sapphire’s report
The Amazing Race
On the 7th of March 2007 year 7 and 8 of Sapphire Team at Fitzroy High
School, did the amazing race. It was a race to get around Melbourne and
answer the questions. Some of the questions were quite easy but others
we struggled a bit with. The teachers that accompanied us were not allowed
to run - they had to power walk instead!
First we went to a wall that was painted white and had things that famous
people had said. It was decorated with leaves and it looked really nice.
Then we caught the tram to a mural and we had to write down what it said
on the mural. Then we ran (Darryn walked) to the tram station to catch
a tram to a church called Saint Patrick’s. It was a really big church
and there was a smaller one behind it that we had to take a picture of
for bonus points.
Then we took yet another tram to some shops where we had to find a lane.
The lane was called Kindness Lane and it was decorated with colourful
spray paintings of animals. Then we walked for quite a while and ended
up at Fitzroy Swimming Pool where we had to get a leaflet and say what
the pictures on the side of it were of.
Then Darryn bought us some bottles of water so that we wouldn’t
get too dehydrated (which is bad for the brain). We then took another
tram to the laneway near McDonalds and we had to count how many heads
of Buddha’s there were.
We then had to get back so we caught the tram back one stop (we are very
lazy) then walked until we saw another team. We were running as fast as
we could and then a very kind hearted bus driver offered to take us to
the school. We happily jumped on and got back to school with 2nd place!!!
I am sure we all had a great day and I can’t wait for the full day
race!
Hannah, 7B
The amazing race is a curriculum activity that has been run successfully
for several years at Fitzroy High School. It involves small groups of
students, under the supervision of a teacher, following a series of clues
that lead to a range of places across a specific location. The places
students visit are chosen on the basis of connections with a specific
theme or concept.
The focus of our "Amazing Race" this term was on the connection
between identity and the arts and this was explored through an emphasis
on places in the community that featured aspects of art and design. This
was an introductory "tuning in" activity for a more extensive
classroom investigation of the concept.
The activity is also excellent for team building, and for developing
skills in creative and critical thinking, communication, and planning
and decision making.
Darryn Kruse
Screen It! 2006 National Winner
We would like to congratulate Mary N of 8E on being a winner in the
ACMI 2006, student Screen It! competition. Mary and 7 other students from
the Flash Academy group from 2006 attended the awards on Friday, March
9.
Screen It! is Australia's moving image competition for primary school
students and secondary school students.
Budding young filmmakers from all over Australia made a splash with their
entries in Screen It! 2006.
Students were asked to create a short film, animation, flash animation,
mobile phone film or computer game based on the theme of water.
Screen It! is a fun way of engaging students with the moving image whilst
they learn about the creative and technical processes that lie behind
their favourite forms of entertainment - cartoons, films and computer
games.
A panel of industry experts judged each work according to criteria such
as; creative merit, technical difficulty, ability to address the theme
and stylistic elements.
See Mary's work here
Art room news
Artists in Schools report
We met Melissa the artist and she showed us some photos which inspired
us. We then brainstormed and came up with ideas for different ways to
paint the boxes. I decide to focus on materials and textures and I came
up with many ideas to represent this subject such as detailed paintings
of bricks and other construction materials on the outside and pipes and
wiring on the inside. Over the next few weeks we will be workshopping
with Melissa and exploring our designs. We all look forward to the finished
product.
Billy, Year 9.
Click here for an image of
the artists at work
Calling all furniture makers!
Any parents/community members interested in working with students to
construct the boxes for the Artists in Schools project or if you know
of any furniture workshops we can visit, please contact Kellie kelliem@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au.
Supported by ‘Artists in schools’ a Department of Education
and Arts Victoria partnership.
VCE media How to make a monster
On the 6th of March the VCE Media students went on an excursion to Scienceworks
to see an exhibition about the art and technology of animatronics called
'How To Make a Monster’.
Animatronics are the components designed and installed within the latex
of a puppet to create 'bones' and 'muscles' that bring the creatures
to life.
We left the school at 9.00am and caught the train to Southerncross station,
and then from there we got on the Werribee line to Spotswood and walked
to Scienceworks. We arrived at Scienceworks around 10.30 - 11.00am and
had to put our bags away because the exhibition has very strict rules;
no cameras or videos phones or any other device because everything in
the exhibition is copy write material, owned by big movie industries
and we’d be sued for millions if we took a picture.
The models inside the exhibition included the Abominable Snowman, gorillas
from the movie 'George of the jungle 2', Disney's 'Inspector Gadget',
The crocodile from 'Peter Pan' and the aliens from 'Pitch Black'. We had
an hour to explore the way these creatures were made and then we left
the exhibition at 12.00pm, had lunch at Food Works, then headed home through
the city.
By Nhia, Year 10
Year 7 camp 2007
One hour out of Melbourne the year 7 students from Fitzroy High were
about to venture into Lady Northcote Camp. They were on the bus for an
hour and some were ready to explore the beautiful scenery. They were all
excited about what they were about to endure - many activities that would
push them physically and mentally.
The first day began with a talk from the camp staff about what the plans
were for the next three days. The activities were Yabbying, the Giant
Swing, Flying fox, Canoeing, High ropes and Mountain bikes.
At night it was time to party as plays were performed and lollies were
scoffed. Don't forget the sleepless nights that all children were treated
to!
It was a camp to remember for all the fun and laughter that we all shared.
Thank you to all the teachers that made this an enjoyable experience for
all year 7, also to all the YMCA staff at Lady Northcote Camp thank you
for the fun that we all had.
Willo Year 7
February 2007
This week in Indigo
Achieving Personal Learning goals
My goal was to make a European themed cookbook involving the three subject
areas of Art, Literacy and Food technology.
I began by learning to cook a few easier dishes, and then moved on to
some more difficult recipes which I then recorded for the cookbook. From
there I moved into the artistic side of the project, which was quite an
involved process.
Firstly I photocopy transferred the typed up recipes onto watercolour
paper. I then collected herbs and leaves from my garden, and transferred
them using the same process. This was sometimes difficult and I did a
couple of the transfers more than once! I then had to paint over the top
of the transferred leaves in watercolour – if I made a mistake it
would have taken a lot longer because I would have to do the entire leave
of the book again.
Once I had all the pages ready to go, I had to bind the book together
using some advanced book binding techniques which I had learned in PLT.
This involved making sure all the pages were in the right place, making
a hole in the centre of each of the leaves and then weaving the thread
through each hole and through the tapes at the back. I used kettle stitching
to strengthen the spine of the book. Kellie helped put together the front
cover, which I then attached to the tapes I had sewn to the pages.
From this experience I learnt the value of organisation and time management,
which, had I done better, would have made completing my project much quicker
and easier. I really enjoyed this project and I feel proud of what I achieved.
Jordan D 8D
Art room news Life Drawing
We are hoping to get life drawing untutored classes up and running again
this year. The proposed time is 5-7pm on Wednesday evenings. Please contact
Kellie if you are interested.
Calling all furniture makers!
As part of the artist in schools project Melissa and I are hoping to get
students working with furniture makers in the local community to construct
a series of boxes. If you know of anyone or are interested yourself please
contact Kellie kelliem@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au
Supported by ‘Artists in schools’ a Department of Education
and Arts Victoria partnership.
Challenge Camp
I spoke to the Year 8 parents on Wednesday about the concept of a challenge
camp to be held in November of this year. This arose out of discussions
between myself and the Principals of Princes Hill and Melbourne Girls
Secondary Colleges when we visited the Alpine School students last year.
We were particularly impressed by the activities and challenges presented
to the students by the school and thought that it would be wonderful if
we could offer a similar experience to a wider group of our students.
We also thought that there were a number of leadership opportunities at
the senior end of the school and it would be good to offer this experience
to year 8s.
As a consequence a great deal of thought and planning went into developing
a pilot program for this year. Staff and the Alpine School students ran
a student conference at Fitzroy in November (this was reported in the
newsletter last year).
From this we have the following outline for the program this year:
*It would involve the three schools (Fitzroy, Princes Hill and Melbourne
Girls)
* It would run for two and half weeks, with weekends at home
* The first three days would be in Melbourne as an orientation experience,
one week at Mirimbah (Mt Buller) and one week at a coastal site.
* The major themes for the challenge would be Sustainability and Leadership
* There would be two concurrent camps, one with a science orientation
the other with an arts orientation
* Both camps would prepare a presentation for parents of the three schools,
perhaps held in the Richmond Town Hall or other community space
* A selection process would be developed to select interested students
(up to 16 from each school)
There will be more information before the end of term.
Indigo creative writing
In the last week of term in 2006, then Year 7 students in Indigo were
asked to collect three interesting objects from the Edinburgh Gardens,
and construct a piece of writing around the one that most ‘spoke’
to them. Students were challenged to utilise simile and metaphor to enhance
their writing. As you can see, the results were impressive!
The stick lay on the ground, discarded by time and the wind. Parts of
its bark had been torn off to reveal the contrasting wood underneath,
with the remaining bark wrapped around it like a bandage to try and heal
the ravages of decay. Who knows how long it had lain there, unmoving,
a pillar of stillness in a world of chaos. Where had it come from? Had
it been snapped off by cheerful children climbing a tree while on a picnic?
Had it been dropped by a bird making a nest to have a place to bring new
life into the world? Where had it been? Had it survived through fire,
through flood? It was an enigma wrapped in a wooden confinement. And still
it sat there, on the dry, sun-baked ground. It may sit there still, like
a statue, a rough, pitted monument to the hidden strength and endurance
of nature. In the future it may be thrown away by a random passerby, to
be snapped upon landing, or condemned to a painful fate lying on the road.
But for now it sits.
Joshua P 8D
This cigarette is an orange rectangle, with writing like a golden line
across the cigarette. It smells of smoke like my Dad’s room which
produces as much smoke as a bush fire in itself. The cigarette is a Death
Certificate which can be found in every milk bar of every town of every
city in every state. Someone dropped it here like the English fieldsman
Ashley Giles did with Ponting. Both were careless errors and both lead
to considerable damage, as Ponting made a score as big as any - and the
cigarette produced pollution limiting our oxygen. A smoker most likely
relates to it and therefore dropped it there because they smoke cigarettes,
as if they prolong your life. Hooked like a fish caught on the bait.
Tom W 8D
Congratulations
Congratulations to Alex Taylor, who has won first prize for best male
Superhero in the State Library of Victoria's "I Need a Hero"
competition. Students were required to design and illustrate a superhero
or heroine and provide a short piece of writing about their creation.
Alex's superhero, 'Business Man', was considered by the judge to be 'a
witty and stylish creation' and Alex was also credited for devising a
thoroughly Melburnian superhero, who was 'born in a small hospital in
Footscray' and then moved onto a 'secret luxury caravan under the sea
at Docklands'.
Alex has won himself a $50.00 voucher to Minotaur, which is fantastic.
Well done Alex!
From the School Council President - Jeff Richardson
School Council is a legal body which governs the school. Council sets
the vision and determines general education policy, goals and priorities
of the school within state-wide guidelines as well as monitoring the school
budget, employment of non-teaching staff, and generally stimulating interest
and participation in the school.
Council meets once a month during the each school term.
Please click on the school council button the left for further information
on the operation of school council and to download nomination forms for
council.
School Council Elections
As the Executive Officer of Council I intend to apply the following timeline
to elections for this year. I would recommend that if you wish to nominate
for council that you read closely the description of its role included
in this newsletter. The call for nominations has been posted at the school
and you should have received a separate notice with this newsletter.
Friday 9 February: Call for nominations
Friday 2 March: Nominations close Display list of candidates, nominator
and seconder
Monday 5 March: Distribute ballot papers by this date (if required)
Friday 9 March: Close of ballot
Monday 12March: Count votes and declare the poll
Thursday 15 March: First meeting of the new and old council
Holiday sports report
Over the holidays Jake , Pip, Jack and Josh competed in the largest basketball
competition in the Southern hemisphere.
The Eltham tournament is a tournament where kids of all ages compete against
other clubs across the state to earn the title of Eltham/Dandenong champions.
We played in the under 16 C4 team and played seven games over three long
days to receive the Eltham/Dandenong championship title.
At 9:30pm on Sunday the 28th January Collingwood all stars under 16 C4
boys defeated Werribee Devils in a close game that went into over time.
Collingwood won by 8 points and we were awarded the Eltham/Dandenong tournament
trophy.
Building Project
We are well into the second stage of planning now. The architects met
with students, staff and the Education sub-committee of council on Tuesday
and showed them their current plans. A PDF copy of the master plan is
available here.
They will be meeting with the Built and Natural Environment Committee
next Tuesday night (all welcome) and there will be displays of the plans
on Wednesday night at the information sessions. School Council will consider
the plans on Thursday night and, following their approval, the plans will
be costed for presentation to the department in early March.
Commonwealth Grant
The school has been successful in obtaining a grant for $126,000 from
the Commonwealth Government. This will enable us to put in an all purpose
hard court at the back of the gymnasium. This will greatly improve the
sports facilities for the students. Thank you to the members of the Built
and Natural Environment Committee who developed the proposal.
Planning for individual improvement
I have spent time with Year 8, 10 and 11 students in class over the last
two weeks. I have been impressed by the willingness of the senior students
to look at the individual data that we hold on them. They are using this
data to plan for improvement and are able to pinpoint learning attributes
and activities that will help them do this.
This morning I worked with Year 8 students who were reviewing their reports
from last year. They looked at their attendance records, the standard
they achieved in English and Maths, their teacher's comments and their
own self reflection. From this they have identified their strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities for improvement and the possible threats that might stop
them reaching their goals. The students were articulate and aware of the
ways they could improve.
This foundation means that when these students are challenged to learn
new things and develop new skills they have the self awareness to do so
with confidence.
Lunchtime Activities
This link will take you
to a a table detailing the activities available at lunchtime for your
child. The school has made a deliberate decision that resources will be
put into a diverse lunch time program. We can't force students to participate
(though we will make strong suggestions at times) but believe it is important
that opportunities are available to them. I encourage you to talk to your
child about things they might be able to do at lunchtime.
Tim Fitzgerald Principal
Art Project for Individual Learning Plan
Paul from Sambell Lodge, a local nursing home, contacted the art department
and presented us with a blank canvas. He asked for some students to create
a painting about their perceptions of the elderly. Nikkola Mikocki-Bleeker
and Phoebe Windridge of Year 7 had goals in their Personal Learning Plan
around improving oil painting skills and we thought this would be the
perfect project for them.
Nikkola, Phoebe, Paul and Kellie met to discuss what ideas they had for
the painting and the girls came up with the idea of 5 areas they wanted
to focus on - being peaceful, respect from younger people, being active
and having fun with friends, sickness and the loved ones you leave behind.
They created a fantastic image - a game of bowls in the centre with 4
smaller images on top symbolising the concepts they identified as important
to the elderly.
The girls planned out the piece with drawings and worked diligently on
the painting for about 6 months both in Personal Learning Time and after
school painting classes with the help of artist Melissa Purdy (who will
be the artist in residence at Fitzroy High in 2007).
This was a wonderful achievement and we congratulate them on their persistence
and hard work in creating a beautiful and insightful painting. The image
was presented during annual singing of Christmas carols at the nursing
home.
We would also like to thank those students who worked with Helen Mutkins
to sing for the elderly residents in our community.
Sambell Lodge presented Fitzroy High with a sculpture for the court yard
in thanks.
The Project -Boxed Out
Artists in Schools
We have received a grant for artist Melissa Purdy to work with students
from across all levels to construct a series of small hollow boxes approx
450mm 3 and 2 larger boxes that measure approx 1125 3.
These boxes will be used for a variety of purposes including seating,
shelving and the larger ones as props within the drama department. The
boxes will not only be painted with student designed images relating to
community but will travel in and through the community via student led
painting workshops.
Students involved will be those who have identified a Personal Learning
goal in the area of painting and/or technology.
We are hoping to draw on the assistance of furniture makers within the
local community- having a small group of students become 'experts' in
constructing the boxes and sharing this knowledge by teaching other students
back at school.
Students will then have the opportunity to paint the boxes - this could
be a studio arts, inquiry identity or a personal learning project. The
boxes will also form part of the transition process for Grade 6 students
coming to Fitzroy High in 2008.
During 2006 Melissa taught both oil painting and life drawing classes
after school in the art rooms. She has work in collections both in Australia
and overseas and we are very excited about having her work with our students.
This project is supported by “Artists in Schools”, a Department
of Education and Arts Victoria partnership.
Career Development Program at FHS
There is a growing recognition in Australia that all individuals should
be equipped with career development skills. Making career decisions is
no longer as straightforward as it may have been in the past. This has
resulted in a number of significant changes in career education in recent
times – and the acknowledgement that it is an important schooling
goal.
The need for a career development program in secondary schools has been
viewed as critical for various reasons. These include:
Students will negotiate many transitions and challenges throughout
their life;
Students face a constantly changing world of work;
The need for students to become lifelong learners and effective
managers of their own career;
Provides students with a context for their school learning and
the skills, knowledge and attitudes to make future career decisions;
Provides a space in which students can reflect on an link learning
activities with the achievement of their life, learning and work goals;
Builds resilience in students, providing them with the means to
manage uncertainty in a changing world; and
Builds students’ capacity to make informed decisions in many
areas of their lives.
Using the Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD) as a framework,
FHS has produced a career development strategy that will be implemented
throughout 2007. Regular updates will be provided in the school newsletter.
Upcoming career events
An exciting holiday program is being offered by the Melbourne Aquarium
for students interested in marine biology, aquaculture and zoology. The
‘Aquarist for a Day’ program includes basic training in aquatic
animal husbandry, food preparation and exhibit design.
The program is suitable for students in all year levels and will run weekdays
during school holidays. As places are limited it is essential to book
early. The cost of the program is $55.
Further information is available from Maria, careers counsellor.
String Players Wanted
We already have a number of students enrolled in the string program.
If you play violin, viola, cello, or double bass and would like to have
lessons at school and be involved in a string ensemble please see Doosie
for an enrolment form.
Information Evening
On Wednesday February 14 we will be having an information evening and
barbecue at the school. For those who have been with us in past years
this is in place of the ‘Lark in the Park’. Please put this
time aside and there will be more information sent out next week.
Year 7 Start of School Payment
All families with a child entering Year 7 are entitled to a $300 start
of school payment from the state government. This will be mailed to the
address of the first named/parent carer as recorded on the enrolment form.
Please make sure that your details are up to date.
Education Maintenance Allowance
If you qualify for this please make sure that you submit your application
as soon as possible.
Grants and Programs
Detailed above is the artist in schools program that the school has been
successful in applying for. There are a number of other programs that
we are part of including a Water Smart technology program with Swinburne
University developing java based games for phones. We have also been accepted
as one of four schools piloting the Edible Schools Program.
The other major grant we have applied for is for extensive landscaping
work behind the gymnasium including a hard court. Each of these programs
provides more resources and different perspectives to the school.
Senior school building project
The masterplan for the new buildings has been approved and the architect is now moving
on to a schematic design. Preliminary sketches will be available for our
community to look at and comment on in early February. The new building
will be sited on the north east section of the site facing Michael Street
(to the left of the library as you look at the school from Michael Street).
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Indigo