
Telephone: 9488 1900 • Fax: 9481 6135 • info@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au • Falconer Street NORTH FITZROY 3068
Sapphire Indigo Jet Scarlet Post-compulsory

July 2007

School of Rock 2007

Congratulations to all those students who participated in this years school of rock on the 19th of June. The event was held at the Ivanhoe Centre and featured a number of primary and secondary schools from the Northern region. The Guitar ensemble consisting of Richard E, Patrick D, Billy P, Filippo P, Callum L-F, James I, Kane P, Genna C, Jack S, Phoebe L, Sam A, Nick D-B, under the direction of Jon Delaney and Greg Jansen, performed an outstanding version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

The Music Director of the Northern Region, Piero D'Ellia, was so impressed by the quality of the performance that the group has been invited to perform at the NMR Music Expo to be held at the Darebin Arts Centre on Friday the 17th of August, 2007. Tickets will be on sale from the venue from 30th July at a cost of $ 10.00 per ticket for general admission. Students performing will not need to purchase any tickets. You can contact the centre on 8470 8282.

Finally, a huge thank you to our guitar teacher Jon Delaney who worked so hard with the students to make the performance so outstanding.

Tom Hoyle

Principal’s Report

Welcome to the start of term 3 and to the new staff who have joined us this week. Ragnar Haabjoern is working in Indigo Team teaching maths, science and ICT. Sally Hudson joins Scarlet team, teaching PE and SOSE. Michael Vogue will be joining Sapphire in week 3. He will be teaching maths and science. Jason Pietzner also joins Indigo Team after studying for a Masters Degree last semester. Dean Pepplinkhouse has taken over the role of team leader in Scarlet with Peter Bennet while Ben Johnstone-McCloud is Acting Assistant Principal.

It promises to be an event filled term. The whole staff will be attending our first Fitzroy High School conference on 7th and 8th August, 3 way conferences will be held on the 28th and 30th August, the Year 9 and 10 ski camp will take place in September, year 8 students are involved in designing the Challenge Camp to take place in November, information nights for students in years 10 and 11 will take place during the term, there are many excursions and sporting events planned. You will receive advanced notice of these events closer to the time.

Year 10 Work experience in the last two weeks of term was particularly successful with many employers commenting on students’ reliability, willingness to take on tasks, taking the initiative in their work, and their ability to work independently. We are very proud of their achievements.

I look forward to working with you, your children and teachers as the Acting Principal this term. Please feel free to contact me, my door is open.

Pauline Rice

Term 2 in Sapphire Belief Systems Unit

At the end of last term both Indigo and Sapphire Teams completed a series of visits to places of worship of a number of key religions in Australia, and spoke to a number of experts about the beliefs and practices of those religions.

This was an important part of our units of work on beliefs and belief systems. In Sapphire our big question for the unit was “How do belief systems affect a person’s identity?”

As part of this unit we completed some work on life and beliefs in ancient Egypt, and spent quite a bit of time investigating some important religions in Australia today. This investigation was comprised of a series of teacher directed lessons, and a range of visits to St Paul’s Cathedral, the Jewish Museum and Synagogue, the Tara (Buddhist) Institute, the City Mosque, and the Blackburn (Sikh) Gurdwara.

Students completed comprehensive field notes at each place. They were also asked to synthesise this material by designing and completing a table of comparison, and then writing an essay from the information on the table.

We were very fortunate to have so many thoughtful and generous people offer their time and hospitality to enable these excursions. In particular we are indebted to Marissa Pinkas from the Jewish Museum, Alice Andrews from the Tara Institute, Sherene Hassan from the Islamic Council of Victoria, and Gurdurshan Gill from the Gurdwara Sahib.

June 2007

Principal’s Report

This is my final report until Term Four and I am pleased to be able to make it an extremely positive one.
Premier’s visit
As you are probably aware through reports in the mass media the Premier visited the school on Wednesday (along with the Education Minister, John Lenders, Minister of Housing and local M.L.A., Richard Wynne and the federal member for Melbourne, Lindsay Tanner) to announce that the school had received $3.5 million dollars in funding for the Year 11 and 12 wing.

The Premier toured the school and spoke to students in the music room and those involved with the ‘Boxed Out’ artist in schools program. He then addressed a throng of media, students and guests where he emphasised the importance of the school within the education system.
The project is due to start in November of this year when we will be doing work converting roof spaces in the gymnasium into mezzanine floors. It will then continue in January/February of next year for final completion for the start of the 2009 school year.

I would like to thank the parent convenors of the Built and Natural Environment Committee, Helen McKernan and Antony McPhee, whose have driven the design and development of the building through numerous meetings at school and with the department.
Our current and past school council Presidents, Joe Burke and Jeff Richardson, have been instrumental in keeping the project before the government. Their support has been tremendous and the school community should be grateful that they have been able to accomplish so much for us.

The next eighteen months will be both difficult and exhilarating as the new building starts to take shape. We believe that the design will support students in undertaking 21st century learning. We take seriously our role in educating students so that they are constantly challenged to perform to their highest possible individual standard.

Tim Fitzgerald

Edible Garden - An introduction from 'Tash'

Hi, I'm Natasha van Velzen, a Horticulturalist/Environmental Educator and I work with Cultivating Community, a not-for-profit organization that works with and supports Community Gardens throughout the Melbourne Metro area.
We also have a burgeoning specialist School Garden Team who are employed (mainly) in Primary schools in Clayton, Chadstone, Ashwood and Brunswick.

Through a successful grant submission to the Dept. of Victorian Communities in 2006, Cultivating Community is now coordinating the Edible Classroom Pilot Program in two Primary Schools as well as here at Fitzroy High for secondary school representation.

This pilot program will assist and support these 3 schools to design, build and manage their own productive Edible Classroom through active student and teacher participation. Certainly we won't get far without strategic help from parents, friends and your own school community, so we are very keen to galvanise your input, ideas, donations of 2nd hand materials, expertise and guidance at any time over the next 6 months of the project duration.

This project is really driven by the students innovative design ideas, in addition to them costing parts of the project, sourcing materials, gathering supplies and seeing garden design and other infrastructure through to completion, or as near to it!
With a strong focus on a sustainable garden design, we hope to be able to close the loop and 'feed' the garden with u-beaut compost generated from lunch and recess scraps in the garden's own on-site composting and worm farm area.
This is a project that has many learning opportunities along the way. It will enhance a once drab area of the school grounds and provide a shady spot that will be pleasurable to learn in, to sit in, to visit, and eventually provide an ongoing supply of fresh, healthy, organically grown produce for the canteen.

If you would like to lend a hand, look out for more news through this newsletter as well as first hand news from your kids and community. Contact Briony O'Keeffe or John Ross at FHS for more info.

See you around the school, Tash.

Fitzroy High School: 9488 1900
brionyo@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au
johnr@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au

Intermediate Sports Day

Netball

Fitzroy were placed in a tough pool alongside Melbourne Girls College A and B side and MacRobertsons B team. We prepared ourselves for some challenging competition and the girls had certainly prepared well training every Tuesday and Friday lunchtime for the past month.

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The highlights of the day were Stella W's three goals in attack, one of them against the all powerful Melbourne Girls. Shannon P ran endlessly in the centre and goal defence. Alice W played well in the unfamiliar role of goal keeper against Melbourne Girls and combined well with George S. Lora A was a tremendous leader throughout the day and tried hard to lift the spirits.
Overall, it was a great learning experience for the girls to come up against some great netballers and with many of the team in Year 9 we can look forward to more success next year.

Soccer

On Friday June 1st the Year 9 and 10 boys soccer team had a very successful day finishing second overall in their pool, to eventual winners Melbourne High School. In what proved to be the crucial first game, Fitzroy held Melbourne to a scoreless draw. Liam G was particularly good at sweeper and Steven S made some vital saves to keep the score deadlocked a 0-0. The best chance of scoring came from Elliot's solo dribbling effort into the box but unfortunately was saved.

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In the second game, Fitzroy had to work hard for a 2 - 0 victory over the College of the Deaf. Olmo and Chris C, found the back of the net. The third game was reminiscent of the Socceroos v Solomon Islands, Fitzroy needing to win by 16 goals to win the pool on goal difference. The boys gave it a great shake, scoring eleven goals but falling five short. Gus C, Steve S, Olmo all scored two, Chris C one and Elliot D smashed 4 goals in.
The third place playoff game was a non-event with Brunswick High School leaving the day early, fearing obviously the formidable Fitzroy side. Overall, a third place finish was a great effort and the boys should be very proud.

Football

images/footy2007.jpgPlaced in a difficult pool along side Princes Hill and Uni High, Fitzroy had to work hard in their preliminary games, to progress to the final. In a vital first match, Fitzroy played a thrilling draw with Princes Hill, the scores deadlocked at 4.4 apiece. Goalkickers were Viv M, Max E, Adam B and Max O all one each. Best were Max O, Nick M, Fillippo P and Toby H.
The second game was equally exciting with scores very close at halftime. After the break and some inspirational words from coaches Harry, Sam, Jesse and assistant coach, Dean, Fitzroy piled on 5 goals to nil to end up winning 9.3 57 to 4.2 26. Goalkickers were Max E 3, Max O 2, Viv M, John R, Dom P, Blake R 1.

In the final, Fitzroy was to meet the winner of Pool A - Melbourne High School. It certainly was always going to be a challenge.The boys were particularly courageous and certainly gave the Melbourne boys some stiff competition. With only eighteen on the ground, fatigue was evident in the second half with Melbourne winning 8.4 52 to Fitzroy 3.3. 21. Two goals to Dom and one to Liam O were the highlights with best given to Dom, John, Nick, Dylan, Edward, Toby and Michael. Well done to all the team, 2nd place was a great effort considering they played 6 20 minute quarters in a row with only eighteen players!!

Edible Garden

An exciting project - and we need your help!
Behind the gym at Fitzroy High School, imaginations are firing; shovels bite into the reluctant earth, eyes cast about, pondering the fall of the shade, and ears are cocked for the imagined sound of a contentedly clucking chook. It's very early days, but the group of 21 students who have volunteered to take the first steps towards the creation of our school's Edible Garden are getting the lay of the land.
We envisage that our garden will provide our canteen with healthy produce, and create a space for myriad educational opportunities, from soil testing to site specific sculpture to creative writing - not to mention the sheer joy of getting your hands in the dirt alongside your friends and classmates. There's talk of exotic yellow watermelons and juicy tomatoes.

It's a big job we are about to embark on. We've got some fantastic expert assistance, in the form of Tash from Cultivating Communities, a small community organisation supporting the development of the garden. However, we simply can't do it without you - the families and friends of the school.
We are in the very early stages of the project, and there are many ways that you can get involved -
Wander down and check out the proposed site.
Join the Edible Garden committee. There are currently only 3 of us (and 21 keen kids), and we would love your input.
Offer your time. There will be plenty of opportunities to support the building and planting of the garden and all ideas are welcome.
Offer your skills (and dob in your friends). Keen gardener, handyperson, plumber, designer, foodie? Skilled at grant submissions? Come on down!
Keep your eyes peeled for resources. That old sink on the street may just come in handy.
For more information or a chat about the project, please contact Briony O'Keeffe by calling the school or email brionyo@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au

Telephone: 9488 1900 • Fax: 9481 6135 • info@fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au • Falconer Street NORTH FITZROY 3068