At Epping Secondary College our relationships and behaviours are guided by the values RESPECT, COMMITMENT, HONESTY, FAIRNESS AND PERSEVERANCE

DECEMBER

Tuesday 6 GRADE 6 ORIENTATION DAY Y8 & Y9 STUDENTS NOT REQUIRED AT SCHOOL

Thursday 8 ART EXPO 7pm

Monday 12 AWARDS EVENING 7pm

Tuesday 13 REPORT DISTRIBUTION Y7-9 Activity Day

JANUARY 2017

Tuesday 31 Y7 & Y12 STUDENTS ONLY ATTEND SCHOOL

FEBRUARY

Wednesday 1 Y8 & Y11 STUDENTS COMMENCE

Thursday 2 Y9 & Y10 STUDENTS COMMENCE

MARCH

Tuesday 7 SCHOOL PHOTOS

Tuesday 14 CATCH UP PHOTOS

Epping Secondary College McDonalds Road Epping Victoria 3076 Phone: 94012599 Fax: 94086803 Email: epping.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au web: www.eppingsc.vic.edu.au

November 2016 Issue 8

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars’ Program

Congratulations to Apekshya Lama 10A and Sahil Mehmi 10F who have been accepted into the 2017 Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars’ Program. The Kwong Lee Dow Young Schol-ars’ Program is an academic enrichment program designed to support high-achieving Victorian school students.

This prestigious program allows students to sample university life, develop leadership skills, access University of Melbourne resources and attend exclusive events.

Epping Secondary College has been involved with the Australian Business Community Network

(ABCN) for over 9 years. As a result of this partnership our students have benefitted from the

outstanding mentoring program called the GOALS Program, The Tata Consultancy Program for

students interested in Business, various Leadership Forums and Symposiums, as well as having

the opportunity to apply for prestigious scholarships.

This year I am very excited to announce that we have had a second student win the $7,000 ABCN

Academic Scholarship. This substantial sum of money is provided for students to buy equipment

such as laptops, as well as access resources and supports such as private tutors, study seminars

and university workshops during their VCE and into the first year of university. Natali Curucovski, one of year 10 stu-

dents, was one of only 4 students in Victoria to be presented with this scholarship at a very special ceremony held at

the stunning Library On the Dock at Victoria Harbour. Furthermore Natalie was the student selected to give the speech

because of the exemplary essay she had submitted as part of the selection process. In 2014 another one of our stu-

dents, Chelzia Paulson, also won this scholarship and was also chosen to give the keynote speech. We are the only

school across Australia that has had two winners and this is certainly something we should be extremely proud of.

In addition to this, our school was selected to present at this year's ABCN Symposium also held at The Library. Paije

Kearney, Marcus Sindrivanis and Isabelle Caputo represented Epping and were excellent ambassadors for the pro-

gram. They were able to put their skills of communication and networking into practise with people from various in-

dustries and schools.

And finally on the same day during this special ceremony, Epping Secondary College was presented with a special cer-

tificate in appreciation of our contribution to the Australian Business Community Network as a Victorian founding

partner.

The student numbers are continuing to increase for 2017 with approximately 292 year 7 students starting their sec-

ondary school journey at ESC. We are also enrolling additional students across other year levels and as a result of this

we will be recruiting over 12 new staff. Two new portables will be installed providing a further 4 classrooms however

this may increase into the new year. The predicted overall numbers for next year will see our student population reach

approximately 1300 and the overall staff numbers at 130. We continue to work hard to ensure that we are a school

community that is inclusive and socially coherent with a strong sense of community and college pride.

2016 has been a busy and productive year. I would like to thank the teachers and support staff who have worked hard

to provide all students with engaging, challenging and relevant learning experiences. As always the focus is on both

academic growth as well as the personal and social skills and qualities that are so important for life success. Thank you

also to our parents and families for the support and encouragement they give to their children and the school. Thank

you to the school council members for their ongoing dedication to continuously improving the school.

And last but not least a big thank you to our wonderful students for their efforts and their contribution to making this

a great school.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very safe, enjoyable and rejuvenating holiday and may 2017

bring peace and fulfilment to all.

Helene Alamidis

PRINCIPAL

ABCN Scholarship Winner

Natali Curukovski 10E was also the worthy recipient of the ABCN scholarship. The ABCN Foundation provides financial and mentoring assistance from their network of corporate partners who assist them in setting goals and developing valuable workplace skills. Winners re-ceive $7,000 over Years 11, 12 and their first year of tertiary education, to spend on study resources.

Congratulations to this year’s scholarship recipients! We were thrilled to hear that you were successful with your scholarship applications. We thank our students for being hardworking achievers and we thank our loy-al donors, Melbourne University and ABCN for their continued generous support.

Ms Basinski

Year 9 & 10 Careers Education Coordinator

ABCN Goals Program Symposium

Our school was selected to present at this year's

ABCN Symposium at The Library On The Dock at

Victoria Harbour. Paije Kearney, Marcus

Sindrivanis and Isabelle Caputo represented Ep-

ping and were excellent ambassadors for the

program. They were able to put their skills of

communication and networking into practice

with people from various industries and schools.

Well done Isabelle, Paije and Marcus !

Insight Publication Award

The college would like to congratulate Hank Grinter for be-

ing awarded the Insight Publications Award. This award rec-

ognises student achievement through hard work, diligence,

consistency and contributions to the school community.

Hank will be awarded with the Year 12 English texts and fur-

ther resources to support him in striving for excellence in

VCE.

Congratulations Hank!

Whittlesea Council Recognition Award

Year 11 student Tabitha Anderson was presented with an award from our local council to acknowledge her leadership and community spirit. The award was part of the City of Whittlesea’s Student Recognition Pro-gram which recognises the efforts of students’ participation and involve-ment in both their school and wider community. Tabitha was recognised for her demonstrated and outstanding initiative

and leadership in line with the community’s values. This is a very prestig-

ious award and all Tabitha’s hard work within the school and local com-

munity has been suitably recognised.

Congratulations Tabitha!

On Tuesday, November 15th, our 2016 Year 11 students officially began Year 12 classes.

Our first day of commencement was held at the Glasshouse Theatre, which is part of the Collingwood

Holden Centre.

Students engaged in a number of seminars to support their VCE studies. This included the importance

of hard work and resilience, life balance, mental well-being and mindfulness. Students were also intro-

duced to important study skills to set them up for a positive start to their final year of secondary col-

lege.

The highlight of our day was a presentation by former Collingwood Premiership Captain, Nick Max-

well. He instilled in our students the importance of setting goals, developing strategies for success and

overcoming challenges and obstacles through hard work and persistence. Nick’s approach to his foot-

ball career reflected our senior mantra of ‘Striving for Excellence’ and the school is grateful for his con-

tribution to this very important day.

Michelle Robertshawe

Year 12 Coordinator

College Captains Vice Captains Tabitha Anderson & Chelsea Conforto Nathan Fitzgerald & Bineet Gujral

Social Justice Captain Ethel Owusu-Danso

House Captains

SRC Representatives

Findon Falcons Captains:

Paije Kearney Demmi Gosling Cameron Tinsley Chloe Jordan

Carlisle Cobras Captains:

Riley Almond Nikita Morham Grace Lozanovski

Dalton Dragons Captains:

Jaymee Matthews Matthew Bevilacqua Jemma Manos

Tatlow Tigers Captains:

Sarah Chambers Amber Baddeley-Kelly Caleb Kennedy Issac Cannata

Pindari Panthers Captains:

Marcus Sindrivanis Carlos Makdesi Zahraa Majedy Terri Potter

Scarborough Scorpions Captains:

Amy Winley Hannah Fitzgerald Emily Findlay Parsons

Year 7

Year 8 Bree Coade Sebastian Valeri Hitaishi Verma

Year 9 Teesha Billman

Year 10 Bailey Goodwin Lachlan Stavrevski Jessica Lord

Year11

Year 12 Tabitha Anderson Chelsea Conforto Nathan Fitzgerald Bineet Gujral Ethel Owusu-Danso

Peer Support Leaders

9A Lachlan Norris, Bailey Goodwin, Keisha Tuck, Caitlin Wilson

9B Nikita Morham

9C Paul H’Antoniou, Dylan Newell, Michael David, Alessandra Costanzo, Porsha Di Teodoro, Tahlia McKell, Georgia Hopkins, Megan Burns, Jordon Scerri

9D Matthew Bevilacqua, Riley Almond, Brooke Stevens, Jaymee Matthews, Mia Guest

9E Daniella Scordo

9F Rim Wannous, Alex Beyer, Amin Musa, Gabriel Mercado, Emmanuel Blamo, Chloe Smyth, Amy Winley, Skye Cowman

9G Rubi Zahra, Paige Kearney, Chloe Catania, Olivia Lanzetti

9H Alexandra Pontinelli, Jemma Manos, Flona Mansour, Caitlin Wilson

9I Daniel Gulabowski, Marcus Sindrivanis, Julian Laserra, Carlos Makdesi, Hussan Jemal, Jamie Temouskas, Matthew Oularis, Imam Ibrahim, Kristijan Grncarevski, Angel Enoka, Maya Veljanovski, Alana Paric, Amanda Samuela, Lachlan Stavreski

9J Jessica Lord, Amy Shanahan, Vanessa Capunoski

Sports Captains Adam Compton-Robins Anastasia Lambrou Caitlin McLauchlan Luis Obamawonyi Maryanne Polu Hannah Reid Hana Savelio Zoe Stingas Sebastian Valeri

Visual Arts Captains Zach Sprague Kimberly Stevens Mackenzie Fisicaro Angela Todorovska

Library Assistants Jordyn Bower Lana Day Rivar Mann Brooklyn Zukanovic

Music Captains Aron Raward Julian Valeri

Debating Captain Judge Seears

Performing Arts Captain Aron Raward

Language Captain Sara Stojoska

During Term 4, in Year 8 ACE English, we studied the free verse novel “By the River” by Steven Herrick. The novel includes memoirs of a boy growing up in a small, rural town in Australia and the emotions he experiences while making the transition from childhood to adolescence. Through an-alysing his work, my class were then inspired to create their own free verse poetry and memoirs that reflect their journeys. I am truly overwhelmed by the quality of these memoirs and I would like to congratulate my class on their outstanding efforts. Melissa Foresio

Woomelang By Michelle Jugovic Pam and I loved walking Around town, That is all we ever did. We would walk all afternoon Almost every day, Through the bush, Around the school, To the grocery store, To the footy grounds And sometimes the train tracks. If we were lucky We would see a brown snake, A kookaburra or two, A flock of cockatoos, Maybe even some kangaroos. The fresh air filled my lungs, As we roamed around the town Gum trees danced, Paddocks sighed. Houses and dirt roads, As far as the eye can see, The crickets creaked And the possums played There is no other place I’d rather be.

My Freedom By Victoria Conforto Rosebud, Dromana, Rye… my get-away place. My home. My freedom. We only go on weekends or holidays. But we don’t go enough. The beaches are filled with cleansing winds, and the water never stops waving at me. I can’t help but smile when I’m there. My eyes hardly blink, so I don’t miss one bit of it. The ocean is filled with questions like my mind, but I forget about them when I’m there. When I’m standing there, with my feet sinking into the sand, I breathe, freely. It’s my get away place. It’s my home. It’s my freedom.

The Truth By Leila Majedy They think it’s a joke that people are dying. They think it’s funny that some children are now orphans. They think it’s stupid that we’re running away. They think it’s easy to “do something about it”

They think they know my religion. They think they know my story. They think, they think, they think. They don’t know.

They don’t know how my uncle died, protecting his country. They don’t know how my cousin got shot, defending innocent lives. They don’t know how they took my grandparents’ money and left them homeless on the street. They don’t know how I had to leave my country, to live a normal life. They just don’t know.

We fight. But they think we’re killing them. We fear. But they think they’re in danger We flee. But they think we’re taking over their country

They think we’re the bad guys, but in reality, we’re the ones who suffer the most.

Oceans and Skies By Leila Majedy His eyes were blue, sometimes like the ocean, other times like the sky. He used to tell us riddles, rewarding us with lollies. He used to peel my mandarins, because I didn’t like the smell. He used to play with his false teeth, pulling them out and scaring us. He used to give us piggy backs, and tell us stories about the olden days. But then he had to leave. Leave and never come back. At the hospital. For four months. Not allowed to eat. His eyes turned grey. No more oceans or skies. No more riddles or lollies. No more piggy backs or stories. All I have left, is memories.

During term 4 of Year 8 Humanities, all classes had the opportunity to experience Geography in a more practi-cal and realistic way. We went to the Darebin Creek as part of our topic on Landscapes and Landforms in Hu-manities. It was a fun and riveting trip as we were able to learn about the creek’s formation. As a group, we needed to identify natural and man-made formations in and around the creek, noting the rubbish that fills the creek. We started by counting the various types of rubbish that were on the bank and in the creek. It was dis-tressing to see the place covered in plastic bottles, cigarettes, wrappers and more! However, this helped us un-derstand the damage humans can do to natural landforms and more significantly, how we can prevent these problems. In regards to the natural landform, we identified various rocks including Basalt rocks. Basalt rock is an igneous extrusive rock which means it forms by cooled lava. I think all year 8s found this the most surprising information as this suggests there were volcanic eruptions at some point in Epping! As we walked further down the creek area along the banks, we could make connections from what we have learned in our classrooms. This included the bountiful amounts of Australian and even imported fauna and flora, the direction the creek flows in and the confluence that occurs between different rivers and creeks. I personally did not consider how the shape of banks impacts where the rain goes. Overall, it was an informative and stimulating educational experi-ence where we enjoyed being outside of the classroom to learn! Alvina Shaji 8H

During Remembrance Week all Year 9 Humanities students visited the Victorian War Memorial. The Shrine of Remembrance is a very sacred place to all Victorians and is a place where we can pay our re-spects to the men and women that have served our country during times of war. We had a lovely guide show us around the centre, telling us about the architecture and how everything on the memorial site is a way of remembering the soldiers and what they sacrificed. The tour guides explained some of the symbolism woven into the Shrine including the statues, monu-ments, the Lone Pine tree, poppies, the forecourt, Sanctuary, Ray of Light, steps to the Shrine, the carpet, even the walls are all designed so we reflect, commemorate and remember our troops past and present. We ended the tour with a visit to the Sanctuary and witnessed the sun pass across the Stone of Remem-brance. We paid our own respects and gained an insight into this ceremony. Overall, while being an educational camp, it was fun, we all enjoyed learning about our history and every one took something special from the excursion. Maddison Medici 9E

On Monday, November 21st, forty one students and four teachers em-barked on our journey to the Bogong Outdoor School for a week of ad-venture. Students experienced a range of activities including rock climb-ing, abseiling, orienteering, pioneering, flying like possums and com-pleting a challenging river walk. We also had an overnight camp out on the high plains where groups either experienced the challenge of rain or the beauty of snow – yes you read correctly SNOW. After the camp out we had a day off to reenergise. Many of the students had first experiences whilst others honed in their skills. At one point or another all of the students faced challenges or overcame fears and learned to live in the “stretched zone”. We are ex-tremely proud of the young people who went to camp and how they grew throughout the week. This year we decided to ask the Bogong teachers to select two students from each of their groups to receive an excellence and encouragement award. The students who received these awards are listed below. Congratulations to all of the students and teachers for completing a super adventurous week.

Award for Excellence: Encouragement Award: Rubi Zahra Daniel Gulaboski Matthew Bevilacqua Rhys Hodgson Chloe Smyth Paul H’Antoniou Matthew Oularis Nikolce Blazeski

Rebecca Anderson - Bogong Camp Coordinator

Epping Secondary College is currently or-ganising a trip to Italy in 2018 and is now inviting interested students to think about travelling with us. Students will have the opportunity to visit cities most people dream about! Venice, Rome, Flor-ence and Milan are all included in the itinerary. Just imagine travelling to these iconic cities with your school mates!! You’ll be able to eat, dream, speak and explore all things Italian with the oppor-tunity to study at an Italian language school also included. If you’re interested, start talking about this with your parents and if you’re able to, start looking for a part time job to help with your spending money! There will be a meeting with fur-ther information in term 1 2017. See Ms Rehak, Ms Taylor or Ms Foresio if you have any questions.

A-TEAM We are an extra-curricular group formed by Mr. Gonzales, with the purpose of engaging students in different types of exercises to keep them fit and healthy. On Saturday, 12th November, A-Team took 12 year 7 to 9 students to Trafalgar, 2 hours from Epping, to the Survivor Summit where they undertook a custom-designed, 36 obstacle course, across 5km of hills. We prepared ourselves by training as a group every Wednesday after school. Our level of fitness enabled us to experience a unique and empowering opportunity and an awesome sense of achievement!

There was no time limit to complete the course. SUMMIT SURVIVOR was a challenge of agility, strength and determination but we did not have to be super-fit athletes to take part. The event was for anyone, regardless of fitness levels, as long as we were prepared to have a good time, get dirty and swim 30m. We were able to run, walk, or crawl our way along the course.

On average it was expected that we would finish the course between 1 and 3 hours, depending on fitness levels.

SUMMIT SURVIVOR promotes challenge by choice, so we did not have to do any of the obstacles that we were not comfortable with and there were no penalties for not completing an obstacle.

All participants received a SUMMIT SURVIVOR race medal and an AWESOME sense of achievement! We now have great memories of an EPIC day out! With this in mind, we cannot wait till next year when students can enrol again into A-Team and participate in this type of activity as well as many more that we are planning to undertake throughout 2017.

By Mr Rifo The following are the students that participated: Seth Digiacomo, Kate Trembath, Jai Murtagh, Alex Beyer, Anastasia Lambrou, Jarrod Dishington, Theo Tzelepis, Matt Bevilacqua, River Mann, Noah Charles, James Balleta, Dylan Newell.

The annual House Fun Run was held on 9th November for year 7 - 9 students. The aim of the day was to engage students in physical activity and access local walking/running tracks, as well as allow students to raise money for the sport borrowing equipment in 2017.

The weather on the day was perfect for the fun run. The overall winning house was Scarborough with 1377 points for the day.

The top 10 finishers in each age group will make up the cross-country team for 2017. There were some outstanding efforts with year 9 student Marcus Sindrivanis breaking the male record for the course with a time of 9:18 and year 7 student Stephanie Jacobson breaking the female record with a time of 10:31.

The day was an overwhelming success and the efforts of all students to complete the course was great to see!

Thank you to our sport captains, former student Dion Paolinos and all staff who were involved in allowing the day to run smoothly once again! Michael Rogneda Sports Coordinator

Year level 1st 2nd 3rd

7 boys Ibrahim Hersi Adam Compton- Robins

Eren Arslan

7 girls Stephanie Jacobson Holly Smyth Jemma Gonzalez

8 boys Jay Raval Slava Cooke Josh Gonzales

8 girls Lindy Stephens Chloe Antoniou Achol Ajack

9 boys Marcus Sindrivanis Cayden Turner Dion Zoto

9 girls Jaymee Matthews Chloe Manuel Jamin Partasides

Raise Program Years 7-10

The RAISE mentoring program ran for 20 weeks during terms 2 & 3. There were 12 students from Years 7 – 12 participating. Each student had a mentor and it is was great for nurturing leadership skills and working as a team. The mentors were pa-tient, kind, empathetic and listened to us. We discussed topics such as: Hope, Goals, Friendship and Mental Health. We recom-mend this program and rate it 10/10. Sadly the program finished and we had to say thank you and good bye to our mentors. Nadira Sanif, Seth Boyd, Jayde Dimmock & Terri Potter

White Ribbon Day Friday, 25th November, was International Stop Violence Against Women Day. This event ran during lunchtime and the group had printed T-shirts that students were encouraged to invent a slogan about ‘No Violence Against Women’. We had a lot of people join us and they produced some great slogans that we displayed. We hope we made people more aware of what is going on in our world and that together we can make a difference.

Jacqueline Pezzimenti

Goodbye Mentors and thank

you for everything!

As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report, there is a new regulatory landscape surrounding child safety, underpinned by new Child Safe Stand-ards. Epping Secondary College is committed to the safety of all its students. To this end, the school is developing a cul-ture of child safety and has and will implement policies and procedures to ensure that there is zero tolerance of child abuse in our school. The school’s policies and procedures provide the foundation for and commitment to child safety by ensuring: All school staff and volunteers comply with a code of conduct which addresses child safety. Epping Secondary Col-lege recognises and considers existing professional codes of conduct when developing child safety codes of con-duct such as Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Victorian Institute of Teaching Profession Code of Conduct. Recruitment processes are in place to manage and reduce the risk of child abuse. In addition, processes shall be in place to ensure that there are appropriate staff induction programs, staff professional development and staff su-pervision arrangements to ensure a child-safe environment. Policies and procedures for reporting and responding to suspected child abuse shall enable individuals to take the appropriate course of action to protect the safety of all students. The development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of risk management strategies to ensure child safe-ty in the school environment Children feel safe to report abuse and have processes in place to ensure that students are empowered to raise any child safety concerns. Epping Secondary College will support students to develop appropriate knowledge and skills so that children can identify and communicate when they don’t feel safe. The Code of Conduct, Child Safety Policy and any further information, policies and procedures will be made availa-ble to the school community as they are developed. The school will disseminate this information through its news-letter and on the school website, to ensure that child safety becomes everyone’s responsibility.

In the Woodwork and Metalwork classes this year it has been quite im-pressive to see just how talented all students have been at completing prod-ucts and especially the girls. The classes range from DMT in Year 7, IST in Year 8, Furniture Design and Engineering in Year 9 and Engineering Technolo-gy and Metal in Year 10. Here a few snapshots of some quality products pro-duced rolling out the door. Mr Cooke

ALL AGES SOCCER COMPETITION & TRAINIING AT YMCA LEISURE CITY EPPING

SOCCER STARS

FUN INCLUSIVE GAMES AND SOCCER DRILLS

AGES 5-12

JUNIOR INDOOR SOCCER COMPETITION

5 A SIDE INDOOR SOCCER

AGES 10-12

TEEN INDOOR SOCCER COMPETITON

5 A SIDE INDOOR SOCCER

AGES 13-15

YOUTH LEAGUE

5 A SIDE INDOOR SOCCER

AGES 16-18