Middle Years my news Newsletter No 34 Term 4 November 3, 2014 Principal’s Report Year 7 Melbourne Cup Day A reminder that students are not required at school tomorrow, November 4, Melbourne Cup Day. November 28, Wodonga Gold Cup, is a normal school day. Year 7 Rewards - Felltimber Staff in Year 7 at Felltimber campus are asked to nominate 2 students from their A-Team every fortnight who they believe should be rewarded for their positive contributions to the college. Students they recommend have been displaying positive behaviours both inside and outside the classroom. This includes behaviours such as: punctuality, organisation, positive relationships, persistence in class, service to the school or community and completing class work. Week 4 nominations: 7A – Cairell Nicholls-Bridgeman and Zac Moore 7B – Pearl Plummer and Emilia Tomljanovic 7C – Shiarna O'Brien and Crystal Sherred-Brown 7D – Tae-Lee Fraser and Portia Klepiak 7E – Pongdaramony Yem and Elijah Blake 7F – Tristian Brunnenmeyer and Bonnie Burgess 7G – Hannah Wynd and Dylan Manglesdorf Student Led Conferences Student Led Conferences will be held Monday, November 10. Each conference will be with A Team teachers for 15 minutes each. Bookings may be made online from today, November 3, or if you do not have access to the internet, via the campus offices by phoning 02 6057 9000. Then prompt #1 for Huon, prompt #2 for Felltimber and prompt #3 for the Fruit Flies. The conferences will be held from 12 noon to 8pm, giving all parents and students the opportunity to meet with their A Team teacher. Please note that the student led conference constitutes the students’ attendance at school on this day. Normal classes will not run and all students are expected to participate in a conference. End of Year Term 4 is always a busy time of year for WMYC with many events on the calendar. Events during November: Year 9 students head to Queensland for camp (Nov 17-21); a themed casual wear day (Nov 14); ATL/Service/Sports Awards ceremony (Nov 6-Felltimber and Nov 7-Huon); The Festival of Creativity, Culture and Technology (Nov 10-14); Big Night Out (Nov 27) and Year 9 students commence Headstart (Nov 24-Dec 5). During December: all students participate in Headstart (Dec 15); Awards Ceremony (Dec 16); AVID Banquet (Dec 10); Year 9 Graduation (Dec 17) and various year level end of year activities (details to be advised). Congratulations to Elijah Blake from F7E. Elijah received an iTunes voucher for his positive work ethic in class. Well done to all nominees. Keep up the great work Year 7! Year 7 Team Felltimber Russell Polson Principal Dates to Remember Dates for 2014 Activity 4 Nov ► Melbourne Cup Holiday 6 Nov ► Service/ATL/Sports Awards Ceremony - Felltimber ► Service/ATL/Sports Awards Ceremony - Huon 7 Nov 10 Nov ► Student Led Conferences 17-21 Nov ► Year 9 Queensland Camp 19 Dec ► Last day Term 4 FELLTIMBER CAMPUS Hedgerow Court, Wodonga, Victoria 3690 Ph: 02 6057 9000, Fax: 02 6059 2900 HUON CAMPUS 22-24 Mitchell Street, Wodonga, Victoria 3690 Ph: 02 6057 9000, Fax: 02 6024 3633 Email: [email protected] www.wmyc.vic.edu.au School Nurse Recently I was looking for some drug information and came across these parenting suggestions from Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia. Some food for thought! 1. Expect a great deal from your child If we don’t expect very much from our young people it’s highly likely that they are going to respond by not giving us very much. If we raise the bar, they will rise to the occasion, If we continue to lower it, they are only going to limbo under it. 2. Always be willing to be the solution Sometimes parents forget that their children are just that – children. Adolescents, in particular, are going through a difficult time in their life and parents need to try to remember what a complicated period the teenage years were for them. Remember, you are the adult and as such there are times when it is entirely appropriate to cross the ‘halfway point’ and come to a compromise in an attempt to solve parent-child disputes. 3. Say ‘no’ to your children ‘No’ is most probably the most important word your child will hear from their parents apart from ‘I love you’. Children learn discipline, self-control and how to delay self gratification when they are told no by their parents. In recent years too many parents have strived to be their child’s ‘best friend’. Remember, your child has lots of opportunities to make a ‘best friend’, they have one set of parents. There is lots of time in the future to develop a friendship with your child – adolescence is not the time – they need you to be a parent. 4. Treat your partner well Your child learns so much about how to relate to the world by watching how you and your partner communicate with each other – make sure you are the best role models you can be. 5. Actions speak louder than words Unfortunately, for many teenagers, their parents have very little credibility to begin with. If teenagers are threatened with consequences that are not followed through with, what little they had will be lost completely. Make sure that when you create consequences for breaking family rules, you are able to carry out the punishment. When punishment is necessary, consequences need to be ‘short and sharp’ and easy for you as a parent to follow through with. 6. Give your children responsibility as they grow older It would appear that less and less young people actually do household chores, instead convincing their parents that they can’t do this or that because of homework, music practice or sports practice. Children need family responsibilities to learn where they fit in their family and subsequently in the wider community. We all have a role to play in the family and simple tasks like making the bed or doing the dishes help us to establish how important all the roles are, no matter how menial. Feel free to pay your child pocket money if you wish but do not pay them for carrying out family duties. We should never reward our children for things that should be expected of them. 7. Really listen to your children When was the last time you really connected with your child, not just talked to them, but really spoke and listened – just you and your child – no other family members, no mobile phone, television or other distractions? We live in a very fast world that is constantly changing and it can be difficult to find the time to really connect with anyone, let alone our children. The next time your child wants to show you something, stop what you are doing and pay real attention to what they are saying and how they are saying it – we get so few opportunities to talk to our child in this way that we should grab every chance we get! 8. Tell your children they’re great ... all the time We are often told that the younger generation are worse than ever before, but so many Australian teenagers are doing wonderful things. Make sure you take every opportunity, when it is appropriate to let your child know how wonderful they are! Linda Elkington Adolescent Health Nurse Sport Hockey Congratulations to those students who competed at the Year 8 Hume Hockey Competition on Thursday 23rd October. Throughout the day the boys were successful in two out of their three games and were strong contenders in progressing to State level. A great day was had by all, well done to all those students who attended! Basketball On Friday 24th October, a group of Year 8 boys travelled to Shepparton to compete in the Year 8 Boys Hume Basketball Competition. The team convincingly won two of their three matches, but were defeated by Benalla in their final game. The boys were therefore awarded second place for the day. Congratulations boys! Softball On Thursday 23rd October, a combined group of Year 7/8 girls travelled to Gayview Park to compete in the Year 8 Girls Upper Hume Softball competition. Although the girls were defeated by Catholic College, it was a great day out and fun was had by all. Well done girls! Volleyball Congratulations to all those students who participated in the Upper Hume Girls Volleyball Competition. Both Year 7 and 8 teams performed extremely well progressing to the next level! We wish all girls attending the Hume level competition the best of luck! Well done! Olivia Toth Huon Sports Trainee Little Shop of Horrors The Little Shop of Horrible Treats Helpers The Little Shop of Horrors Production had another band of willing helpers producing treats for sale at intermission for the 3 nights of the show, raising $500.00 to help with production costs. So a big thankyou to these behind the scenes workers for their great contribution to a fabulous show: Lorna Sherlock, Heidi Burgess, Savannah Stacey, Georgia Egan, Claire Dunstan, Tanika Zanghellini, Esther Seymour, Hollie Radomski and Jess Kellahan. Marg Benbow Shop online: http://store.beleza.com.au/ Mon - Fri: 9am - 4pm Our graduates will display confidence, be optimistic about their future and be committed to personal achievement and global citizenship.