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Mr Ian Watkins

It is a great time to be a member of the Highvale Secondary College community and I feel privileged to see its continuing growth and success.My highlights for this very busy year include the fol-lowing:

Academic results in 2016 saw a marked improve-ment. This was our best VCE performance over the last three years with 36% of students receiving a Tertiary enter score of over 80. There was an increase in average study scores to 31. The school achieved its four-year target set last year, and there was a signifi-cant increase in the percentage of students receiving a study score above 40. Our top student was Rebecca Rasmussen who received a score of 98.95. A fan-tastic result. Our students in the middle years have also performed very well. The 2016 NAPLAN results indicated increased achievements above state and regional levels and importantly, higher achievement levels for the high performing students.

Our instrumental music program continues to grow and student performances have clearly demonstrated their exceptional skills and talents. This year, over 40 of our students participated in the North Eastern Regional concert at Hamer Hall. We were again, one of the largest representative groups and our students performed exceptionally well. Our Chamber Strings Ensemble delighted audiences of international dignitaries at Victorian Government House and made such an impres-sion that they were asked to perform a number of times.

It would be remiss of me if I did not take this opportunity to recognise staff that have made a significant contribution to the school.

As you may be aware, Mrs Wendy DeWolde has decided to retire after 21 years at Highvale. Mrs DeWolde created a very dynamic and successful textiles area. It’s a testament to her enthusiasm and skills that our textiles area continues to thrive as similar subjects in other schools have all faded away. Notable achieve-ments included Gown of the Year Awards and her recent work supporting less fortunate students in Africa.

Mr Peter Nance has decided to retire after some 14 years at Highvale Secondary College. His students have been very fortunate to benefit from his absolute pas-sion for woodwork. During his time at Highvale his students have constructed boats, beds, cabinets, drawers and innovative shelves. His ability to manage the very complex process of multiple projects has enabled students to fully engage in their learning and excel.

It is my great pleasure to announce that Mr Yasar Duyal our Head of English has been promoted to an Assistant Principal position at Meadow Heights Primary School. We wish Mr Duyal all the very best. Since starting here in 2012, he has been a fantastic support to the school and has relieved as an acting assistant principal on several occasions.

Mrs Caroline Leavey will be taking up a transfer in 2017 to concentrate on her passion in the teaching of Drama and the Performing Arts. Mrs Leavey has been a very effective Director of Student Wellbeing and will be greatly missed. Her care and attention to our vulnerable students has been exemplary. Ms Kate Grennan our international student coordinator has accepted a position at Yarra Valley College for 2017. Ms Grennan is an exceptional teacher of English and English as an Additional Language. She has provided great support for our international students and has fostered excellent relationships with our overseas agents. This has resulted in a doubling in numbers of our International Student program and recognition from the International Division of the Department of Education.

Ms Rebecca Parker our Year 12 coordinator, has been promoted to a Leading Teacher position at Buckley Park Secondary College. Ms Parker is well known for her care and attention and is an excellent psychology teacher. We know that their gain is our loss.

Mr Brendan West will be taking a transfer to move closer to the beach and teach at Mentone Grammar. Mr West has been a key VCE English teacher and was instrumental in the introduction of VCE English Language in the school.

I would also like to recognise the support given by Mrs Jane Horrabin as an aide for our students with disabilities. Her caring nature and attention to their needs has enabled our special needs students to achieve significant success.

On behalf of the school I would like to congratulate students, staff and parents on a wonderful year. I would also like to congratulate and thank my two Assis-tant Principals, Mrs Heather Carr and Mr Leigh Hunter for their tireless efforts and support.

Our International Student program continues to thrive with strong interest for placements from overseas students. In 2016 we saw a group of students travel to Fiji to work closely with a small village, where they constructed cyclone proof water storage silos as part of the Asia Pacific Youth Foun-dation program. This tour provided very valuable lessons in bringing home how fortunate we are. We hope that this program can become a regular com-munity outreach for the school and further develop international relationships and understandings.

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Mrs Heather Carr Mr Leigh Hunter2016 commenced with hot weather and a very busy schedule with parent information sessions for all Year levels where the BYOD program and the functions of COMPASS were explained to the students and parents.The College hosted over 400 prospective families at its Open Night in March. Over 200 students participated on that night to showcase the Col-lege. Interactive displays and student performances were a highlight of the evening. The Curriculum day for staff saw the launch of the Teaching and Learning Model for Highvale Secondary College. Vic Zbar lead the staff in deter-mining the importance of learning intentions for each topic and class to ensure that students are informed the requirements for learning for that lesson. Profession development for staff in the form of class observations and feedback throughout the year has enabled a more explicit approach to student learning. This year I have had the privilege of attending the Instrumental Music concerts. It has been wonderful to see the talent of our Highvale students and sit and just enjoy the music. I have also attended the Robotics club interschool competitions organised by VEX and witness our girls team achieve the first female hang in the Southern Hemisphere. This year I had the pleasure of taking 15 students and 2 staff to Fiji to work with Asia Pacific Youth Foundation (Australia) and Vinaka Fiji Foun-dation (Fiji) to work on the Naviti Island in the Yasawa Islands to assist with the literacy program in the primary school and construct concrete tank bases, erect and connect 2 tanks to the guttering on the community building and assist in the stalling of the effect of climate change in the coral reefs and on and around the island. It was such a pleasure to rep-resent Highvale Secondary College and a huge thank you to the school community for raising $3200 for the community project. Students at Highvale Secondary College have had the opportunity of experiencing success in academic, sporting, music and cocurricular events Students have been involved in excursions, camps, Debutante Balls, zone to state level sporting events and musical performances at Hamer Hall and Government House.The school’s very good VCE results are a result of the rigour of the teach-ing and the work ethic of our students. Many students have taken the ad-vantage of after school tutoring and an excellent number of VCE students have been utilising Edrolo, the tutoring software package to consolidate and enhance their learning.2016 has been a very successful year for the students and the staff and the school.

This year has certainly been a big one for myself. Joining the team at Highvale Secondary College in the Assistant Principal role has been an excit-ing time. Having now spent the year at the College and had the opportunity to get to know the staff, students and some of the parent community, I have thoroughly enjoyed the year.

The planning of the first stage building program the will commence over the Summer break has, been a great opportunity to get a good look at the long-term plan for the college. The stage 2 plan-ning that is currently underway, is also allowing the college to plan for the future, in an everchanging landscape that is education. By the completion of the works late 2018, the College will have a whole new look and feel.

Leading the Building and Grounds committee has been quite enjoyable, with the input from the com-mittee members always being valuable and has

resulted in some significant improvements, like the addition of the heating to the Community Centre. This was much appreciated by the students when they were undertaking their mid-year exams.

The Student Management team have continued to work tirelessly to support the students in their learning at the College. The ongoing nature of their work requires special people to take on the role. Thank you to these team on providing a level of care that always has the best interests in the chil-dren at heart. Both groups have been very support-ive of my entry to the team. I certainly appreciated the teams in junior school and senior school. I look forward to working with many of them again next year with the addition of some new faces.

The International Student team continues to build the number of international students attending Highvale. This team in many ways mimic the role of parent for these students, providing a balance of parenting as well as shaping on these individuals into highly capable students. The exposure of our international program to our local student always adds a level of cultural expose that ensures out students are truly global citizens. A big thank you to Kate Grennan for her time leading this team.

The Highvale community has been very support-ive throughout the year and I look forward to the continued relationship.

With 2017 fast approaching, I look forward to con-tinuing the work from this year and building on our reputation of a College with the highest of stand-ards and outcomes for every child enrolled here.

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How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?

2016 has flown by and I have enjoyed my second year here at Highvale. Once again it has been a year where our students participated in a myriad of activities.The year started with the Year 12 Study Conference Camp. This camp provided the stu-dents with an introduction as to how to cope with the VCE to equip them with knowledge and understanding of the pos-sibilities for life after school. It was also a great opportunity to create new friendships and strengthen existing bonds ready for the much-needed support that this challenging year can often require. The students undertook tours of Melbourne -based tertiary institutions such as the University of Melbourne, The Australian Catholic Uni-versity and RMIT University. There were also speakers from Deakin University. The camp was very successful with many students returning to Highvale excited and motivated by the many of opportunities available to them once they completed Year 12.This camp was further made successful because of the team of dedicated teachers who were ready and willing to support them. The year for Year 12 has gone quickly and before we realised it Graduation was upon us.The Year 11 students have also been exceptionally busy this year with the Debutante Ball which is a highlight of this Year level and the Central Australia Camp.Year 10 has had a very full year

cesses.As the Year 12 students are coming to the end of their jour-ney with Highvale Secondary College. I would like to congrat-ulate them and trust that they will take with them the core school values of respect, excel-lence, integrity, responsibility and resilience.I would also like acknowledge the school captains for their enthusiasm, dedication and reli-ability. Thank you to Captains: Joshua Anderson and Rebecca Martyn, Vice Captains: Daniel Samariotis and Kylie Cohen and International Captains: Mofei Liu and Mary Zhu. They have been creative, collaborative team members. They have led by example, explored new op-portunities and contributed to the strength of our community at Highvale. Finally thank you to the Senior School Team for their outstand-ing efforts this year. As with every year there have been highlights and challenges, but the students in Senior School are indeed fortunate to have such a committed and caring group of teachers leading them in their school study. I know I speak on behalf of all students when I express our gratitude and sincere thanks to all staff for your dedication, inspiration and sheer hard work. In particular, Ms Rebecca Parker (year 12 Coordinator), Mr Nizam Abdallah (Year 11 Coordinator)) Mrs Deidre Craig (Year 10 Coordinator)Best wishes to those students leaving us, and to all those re-turning - look forward to a very stimulating 2017.If you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you will learn. Oh, the most wonderful stuff - Dr Suess

of learning with the students stepping up to the challenges of harder work and higher expec-tations.

Wednesday‘s Focus Groups were another important part of the Senior school program. The students had the opportunity to form positive relationships with their Focus Group Teach-ers. As part of the Focus Group Program the students set goals, were entertained, educated and participated in a variety of activities delivered by external organisations and agencies. This included many presentations and information sessions pre-sented by the major Universities and TAFE Colleges.There were also internal presen-tations, Mrs Carr gave instruc-tions on the use of Compass and One Drive, Mrs Batrouney gave Careers Advice and Mrs Leavey gave well-being strate-gies.I have been pleased with the many senior school students who over the year have shown significant improvement in their work practice and experienced the resulting academic suc-

Our nervous Year 7s sat patiently during their first Highvale Secondary College assembly on day one, wondering what the next stage of their education would bring. As they moved off to Focus Group to collect their timetables and diaries, the chatter began and new friendships started to develop. This bright and cooperative group adjusted quickly to their new surroundings, taking all things new such as lockers, combination locks, rotating class-rooms, numerous teachers and subjects in their stride. Peer support activities with Year 11 leaders and Camp Rumbug aided their smooth transition with students keen to represent their new school at inter-house athletic and swimming sports, inter-school sports, musical events and SRC meetings. Miss Costello has good reason to be proud of her 2016 cohort. Focus Group activities for Year 7s this year included study Boy/Girl talks and Coach Approach classes in Hip Hop dancing and Tae Kwon Do. The Year 8s continued to develop their independ-ence, maintaining the good work ethic and extra-curricular involvement they established in 2015. They were provided the opportunity of travelling to Tasmania in December, with ninety two stu-dents opting to have fun on the Apple Isle, led by Mrs Gomes, Mrs Thorpe. Unfortunately one of the highlights of previous years, the Cadbury Choco-late Factory, closed last December but Port Arthur, Cataract Gorge and Russell Falls proved to be high-lights. Much history, many educational experiences and fond memories were associated with the trip. Focus Group activities included the excellent Respectful Relationships course, conducted by Monash Health and SECASA, and the Multi Media Production, ‘Everyday Heroes’, which highlighted the importance of overcoming setbacks, setting goals and developing strategies to achieve them. About to enter the half way mark of their second-ary education, the Year 9s had Mr Baumgartner to guide and support them throughout the year. Our Junior School Captains positions and SRC provided the opportunity for students to demonstrate their leadership skills and become involved in a number of community activities. Student opinion and ideas were considered when making changes around the

school. This involved fundraising for various chari-ties through out of uniform days. Again many Year 9 students acted as coaches for our Junior School sporting teams.Some of the topics covered in Year 9 Focus Groups were the Monash Council Youth and Family Ser-vices presentation, Metro Trains and Drug and Alcohol Awareness programs. Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Junior School Concert. It was amazing to see the ability and confidence of students, both as individuals and as a group, who have been playing their instru-ments for such a short time. Our Music Coordina-tor, Mrs Linton, and her specialist teachers have worked tirelessly with these students to achieve outstanding success. Our new theatre provided an excellent venue to showcase our students’ talents. There is no doubt that parents, staff and friends where thoroughly impressed and entertained at this event. Congratulations to all Junior School students who represented our college admirably when participat-ing in interschool sport, debating and other activi-ties. It has been a happy and rewarding year. A big thank you to all Junior School teachers who have given ongoing support and encouragement, both in the classroom and at extra-curricular activi-ties. I am sure the students really appreciate your willingness to provide them with all that you have during the year. I would like to wish every Year 9 student continued success as they move up into the Senior School and to Year 7 and 8 students, all the very best in 2017. Next year marks the start of many changes at the college with the building upgrade. Every stu-dent, especially those in the Junior School, can look forward to benefiting from the new state of the art learning spaces which will enhance their learning outcomes. Miss Costello, Mrs Gomes and Mr Baumgartner - many thanks again for your outstanding support and encouragement of all our Junior School stu-dents. You are an awesome team and a privilege to work with. A safe and enjoyable vacation and Happy New Year to the whole school community.

Mrs Gaynor Thorpe Mrs Roslyn Patti

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What a year it has been! Year 7 is a time of change, of growing and adapt-ing to high school. It is a year where students gain more independence, and must also take on more responsibility for themselves and their learning.

The first day of school saw nearly 180 Year 7’s arrive, each in perfect school uniform. If only that were still the case! They were nervous, excited and ready to begin their new adventure. They soon found their way around the school, as well as learning how to read a timetable and open a combination lock. They had the opportunity to try new subjects they hadn’t done before, with different teachers for each class. They made friends, and established their place in the Highvale community. Before long they had settled in and knew the school like the back of their hand!

Camp Rumbug was a highlight of the

MissMadeleine Costello

year, with lots of fun activities such as the giant swing, abseiling, canoeing and the disco. Over the year, the Year 7’s have also participated in the swim-ming carnival, peer support, interschool sport, Athletics Day, the Art show, December program and much more. Many students were involved in the in-strumental music program, and played in performances such as the Junior Concert and the Spring Concert.

Some students even helped out on Orientation Day for next year’s Year 7’s. No longer were they the smallest in the school, nervous about what high school would be like. Now they are ex-perts on life at Highvale, sharing their wisdom and experience. What a differ-ence a year makes!

To all the year 7’s, it has been my pleasure to be your coordinator this year. Good luck with year 8!

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I have had the pleasure of working with the Year 8 cohort this year and have enjoyed following their progress, helping them celebrate their achievements and seeing them involved in various aspects of school life.

Throughout the year students were involved in a number of exciting pro-grams that developed their life skills. During focus groups they were fortu-nate enough to participate in the Respect, Protect, Connect Program which was run in conjunction with SECASA and Monash Health. In Term 3, students researched the topic ‘disability’ and presented their investigation of a well-known figure who was challenged with a disability. In their Term 4 PE classes, students participated in a swimming program over four sessions to improve their stroke technique and water safety knowledge. During the December program the Year 8’s were involved in activities related to ‘Bay Play’. They undertook a CPR course, worked on Marine Life presentations and went on an excursion to Rickett’s Point Marine Sanctuary where they learnt kayaking and participated in team building activities.

A number of students enjoyed success in interschool sport in 2016. Congratu-lations to Keely O'Connell, the female Junior Champion at the school swim-ming carnival and to Yasmin Oroji and Daniel Hill who were the Junior Cham-pions at the school athletics carnival. The boys Badminton team made it to the region finals again this year. Well done to Matthew Ongko, Tegbir Singh, Aus-tin Swamy, Roel Tan and Shaanraj Dhillon. Courtney Smith and Keely O'Connell also progressed to region athletics, a fantastic effort!

Well done to all Year 8’s who participated in a range of school activities and took all available opportunities to expand their personal skills. These students should also be commended for putting their time and effort into support-ing the college and for developing their leadership skills. There were many involved in the music program where they performed at school events, some had their work displayed in the annual art show and others assisted in coach-ing sports teams, participated in the robotics club and held positions as library monitors and SRC representatives.

To cap off the year 90 students travelled to Tasmania for an exciting four day tour. The students were split into two groups with the first group departing on the Spirit of Tasmania and the second group flying into Hobart. Highlights of the trip included the ghost tour at Port Arthur, the disco cruise on the Derwent River and Cataract Gorge with its picturesque surroundings. Thank you to the teachers who gave up their time to assist with the camp: Mrs Thorpe, Miss Parker, Mrs Casserta, Mrs Karrubee, Mr Galle, Mrs Moad and Mr Riera.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the Junior School Captains for 2017. Roel Tan and Sharon Yoon were elected as Captains and Yenuli Weerasooriya and Catherine Cheng as Vice Captains. I have no doubt they will do an outstanding job in fulfilling their roles and representing Highvale Secondary College.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Year 8 cohort this year. I hope they have had a memorable year and I wish them all the best in 2017.

Mrs Amanda Gomes

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Year 10 is a strange time for students. They are no longer part of the Junior School but not yet part of V.C.E. It is also a time for some students to continue their education in other pathways. Sadly we are saying good-bye to Jen, Tiffany, Norbet, Dylan Bottams, Charlotte, Lex, John E, Andrea, Michael L, Matt M, Tim O, Bailey O, Dylan P, George, Abhishiek and Lachlan. Kanako has returned to Japan but Lea is staying to, hopefully, see our summer. We have welcomed some new friends this year. Macy, Kara, Meg, Julia, Eric F, Satheekaa, Kiera, Hannah, Minyi, and Keira Q have all made their mark on the year level. Year 10 has been a romantic year for some including, Meg and Harry, Mackenzie and Bailey W, Issy and Leigh, Olivia C and Daniel N, William and Ashleigh, Cameron and Gemma, Brooke and Nathan S. and Zac B and Kristina.We have many students with the same surname who are not related. The Chengs, Jessie and Colleen, the Gaos, Alan, Catherine and Kelly, the Huangs, Holly, Howard, Jennifer and Rachel, the Lims, Jake and Soo, the Lus, Kevin and Ming Yang, the Smiths, Jasmin, Nicholas and Rebecca, the Tans, Henry and Eric, the Wangs, Fan and Zoe and finally the Wongs Alex, Adam and Katrina. There are also the siblings Sarah and Claire, Wil-liam and Grace, Kristina and Kosta, Liana and Taneisha and Isabelle and Ben. This does not include Sam Q and Jacob M who look like twins to me.Some of our Year Level like to push the boundaries, like serial spray jacket wearers Caitlin, Dan A and Peter, the boys on the hill including Ben Bakker, Anthony (Trav), Josh W, Jarryd, Trent C, Callum, Erik, Peyman and, the otherwise perfect Josh M. Many still need to learn how to use an alarm clock like Zac S, Joshua, Ken, Jas-mine O, James B, Malik, Jin Hui, Paris and Phoebe (who has improved lately). Harry U is always hard to find, Andre and Shulukshun insist on wearing their P.E. tops while Eddie, Trent O, Divyam and Kael are also fond of mischief. Year 10 could probably form their own orchestra with Lizzie, Olivia, Jake, Jin, Natalie, Sarah D., Sammy, Grace,, Alex P. and Hannah on strings, Amelia, Aaron, Nikita, Maya, Sean and Brooke on flute, clarinet and sax, Ryan C. and Kael on percussion and Elyssa singing out in front. We have some excellent sports men and women; Ash is a golfer, Carly loves netball, Alex R. and Josh T are dancers Grace B shoots hoops and Georgia W is a footy freak. Tara and Kitty are both nursing injuries while Mary K wants to be a nurse. Emma T is a star at tex-tiles, Miguel is an artist, Zafira knows everything about precious stones and Archana, Zac T, Jordan C, James L, and Jared K are serious mathematicians. Esha has the longest hair and Logan likes to change hair colour. Chloe S, Chloe P, Tiani, Vallerie, Jenny, Maddy and Hayley love to talk while Kathleen, Hazel, Susan, Jacob, Melissa, Katherine M, Mira, Errand, Opsimran, Susan and Crystal are quiet achievers. Riley is a rascal, Dylan B. Phillip A, James D, Max, James T, Tim D, Josh R, Justin and Issac are gentlemen and Jude, William, Connor, Kevin and Charlie are cheeky. Liam, Leon, Ann-Li and Jemma are lucky because they are in my health class. Abby, Emma C, Jess V and Sarah M are shy, Ashleigh S is a peacemaker while Kaitlyn D, Sara, Maxine and Nadia have the biggest smiles.Everyone in the Year Level has their own talents that, hopefully, will develop over the next two years. Have a great holiday and an awesome 2017.

It was my pleasure to work with the Year 9 cohort of 2016 as their coordinator. The students eased into the school year smoothly and very quickly established themselves as a cooperative and keen group of students.Throughout this year, Year 9 students enjoyed success aca-demically, in sports and leadership programs. Congratula-tions to anyone involved.Outside providers gave some fantastic presentations, as mentioned in the Junior School Report.I am extremely proud to be the year level coordinator of a group of students that are able to show respect to their teachers, their peers and their studies.

Mrs Deirdre Craig

Mr Philipp Baumgartner

As a year group they have proven that they are a talented and inspirational cohort with room to grow and develop new skills in the years ahead.

I look forward to the challenges, achievements and journeys that await these students as they ascend into Year 10 in2017.

Enjoy the Christmas break, Year 9, and well done on a successful 2016.

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This year has been filled with many opportunities and challenges as the year 11 students commenced their VCE studies. School Assessed Coursework, exams, Peer Support, VCE Formals, Debutante Balls and Central Aus-tralia camp all contributing to another successful year for this group of students.Earlier this year, two year 11 students represented High-vale Secondary College at the Rotary’s Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA). Denzel Ncube and Harry Breeuswma represented a country apart of the United Nations where they debated on matters of world politi-cal and social concerns. After an intense first semester and the completion of their first set of VCE exams, the most anticipated Central

Australia camp had arrived. With 62 students, seven members of staff, Merv, Ron, Jen and our beloved head chef Possum, together we embarked on a 10-day journey that will be forever remembered. From Uluru, we travelled north to Darwin where students had the opportunity to see some of Australia’s most iconic landmarks and tourist attractions. Stu-dents were also shown different aspects of Aus-tralian history and culture that left students with a sense of humility and respect for the outback. Another highlight of the year came at the end of Term 3 – The Debutante Ball. This year we had an amazing number of students participating with 36 couples being presented. As always, new experi-ences brought on new challenges. As our Monday night rehearsals commenced, we saw many of those challenges in the next 10 weeks including two separate dance groups, girls battling to dance in their skirts, writing presentation paragraphs and of course trying to learn new dances in a short pe-riod. However, with support and guidance from the dance teachers Leisha and Kelly and the assistance of the PTSFA, all students soon were on track to piecing together what was soon to be a successful Debutante Ball. The 9th of September was the big day for the students as they arrived at the Freccia Azzurra Club in style. With a couple of last min-ute dress emergencies, professional photos and a full-dress rehearsal, students were ready to show-case their hard work to family, friends and staff, all whom expressed what an incredible night it was. Students this year were quick to learn that VCE can be intense and at times overwhelming with the workload. It was great to see many students using the after-school tutoring program in the VCE centre as well as the newly introduced private study sessions in V3 and V4 during lunchtime. Students had the opportunity to catch up on work, plan for upcoming assessments or work in study groups.As this was my first year coordinating this group, the year would not have been successful without the support of the senior sub-school team, the year 11 subject teachers and Focus Group teachers. It has been a pleasure to coordinate Year 11 this year and I wish students all the best moving for-ward whether this is into year 12 or exploring other pathways.

Mr Nizam Abdallah

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This year has been a challenging and exciting year for the Year 12 students. The students attended the Year 12 conference at the start of the year and this enabled them to explore different university options and partake in many activities related to study skills, interview skills, safe partying and the iPod shuffle night. This conference set the tone for the cohort and enabled them to bond and begin the preparation for the final hurdle of school – the exams. On their return to school the students were able to finally make use of the VCE Centre and ac-cess the kitchen and more importantly learn how to clean dishes. Term 1 was a busy time with the students being involved in the swimming sports, dress up days, being able to wear the rugby jumper and the VCE Formal. During Term 2 the students begun to feel the pressures of their study with multiple assess-

ment tasks occurring but all students raised the bar, stuck together and utilized the tutoring service to help them get through this busy time of the year. The cohort begun Term 3 with the Year 12 Night that was organised by the college captains. This evening involved team building activities, trivia, din-ner and a movie. This was a fantastic evening as the students were able to spend time together and build upon relationships within their cohort. During this term the students successfully organised the BBQ for the athletics day. The end of the year was finally drawing to a close and the students they were able to celebrate the end of their schooling through the final assembly, the Year 12 breakfast and the Graduation Dinner.

On behalf of myself and the Year 12 students I would like to thank the college captains Rebecca,

Joshua, Daniel, Kylie, Murphy and Mary. Your at-titude, enthusiasm, proactive nature and natural leadership styles is commendable. Throughout the year you have set a tone of respect, inclusiveness and encouragement for your peers. I would also like to thank the committees that worked tirelessly to assist the senior school team in the organisation of VCE Formal, the Graduation Dinner, the aths day BBQ and the Year 12 Night. All these events would not have run as smoothly without your commitment and assistance. I wish each and every single one of you success and happiness. Enjoy the next chapter.

Ms Rebecca Parker

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YEAR LEVEL AWARDS

Outstanding Academic Performance

YEAR 7Eli BourchierBryson Reily Zoey TehLaura Williams

YEAR 8Catherine ChengHaotian HuangTracey LamSteven Hao LucViviana NguyenNikita Parate

YEAR 9Shu Yue GuoCharlotte Opdam Angel Choong Charmaine Chin Nadine BatchelorAlethea Vassiliadis

YEAR 10Hannah WeeCallum BurnieTiani ChanAshleigh HollinsAchana JevpalanZac TranSuzan YewNorbert BayerTiffany AngShulukshun Vishnuraj

YEAR 11Brooke Carroll Adele Wawra Riana Tan Shaomin Low Alisha Manuelpillai Chelsea Williams-Lumley

Outstanding Service to the College

YEAR 7Samantha Bignell Jack EdgarPaige GaleDominic GrkowAnanya Mittal

YEAR 8Brayden Gibson Zhoujing Chu Sean Lee Felix Donahoo-Andru-siak YEAR 9Samuel Bickley Joshua Tran Chayli McCann

YEAR 10Jaimes BroomheadGrace Zhang Carly Hewett Sean Harris William Yon Ke Yin Gao

YEAR 11William HindmarshJessica Squires Denzel Ncube Mohamed Rahim Emily Newstead Dimitra TriantopoulosHarrison Breeuwsma

AccountingRicky Taing

BiologyRebecca RasmussenStephanie Ang

Business ManagementSimone PettinellaRosalie Marshall

ChemistryJoshua KohHazel Low

DramaStephanie Anderson

EnglishEmily HegedisHannah SlaterSarah HowOlivia Cossey

English (EAL)Debbie Chong Tammy Tai

English LanguageHazel Low

Food and TechnologyEmily Hegedis

GeographyKylie Cohen

Health And Human DevelopmentHazel LowHannah Slater

History: RevolutionsNathan Johns

LiteratureKylie Cohen

LOTE: FrenchTina Anagnostou

Legal StudiesTina AnagnostouSarah How

Further MathematicsSarah HowAnn DaviesStephanie AngRandall Holmes

Specialist Mathematics Rebecca Rasmussen

Mathematical Methods Shu Zen WongTina Anagnostou

MediaAmrita Singh

Music Performance Hazel Low

Product, Design and TechnologyRyan Martin

Outdoor Education and Environmental Studies Chloe Butcher

Physical Education Daniel Samarniotis

Physics Rebecca Rasmussen

Psychology Chloe ButcherAnn Davies

Studio Arts Hemamali Aluwihare

Visual Communication and Design Jayne Blakemore

YEAR 12 SUBJECT AWARDS

MAJOR PRIZESThe Junior Years Award Samuel BickleyInsight Literacy Award Sahra BroumandThe Literacy Award Ella BaenschFood Technology Esha ChhabraThompson Award Grace ZhangThe Monash Scholars Program Kathleen Rasmussen Daniel Naude Sarah Duncan Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program Hannah WeeThe Australian Defence Force Leadership & Teamwork Award Rebecca Martyn Carly HewettMusic Award Hannah Wee

MEMORIAL AWARDS

Wolfgang Kleinert Technology Award Michael CiniJessica McLeod Visual and Performing Arts Award Elizabeth BarrattJudith Denton Award Rebecca Martyn

YEAR 12 MAJOR AWARDS

Judith Denton Award Rebecca MartynHighvale PTSFA Citizenship Award Daniel SamarniotisVCE Achiever Award Rebecca RasmussenCaltex All-Rounder Award Kylie Cohen

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UNITS 1 & 2Classroom Music Hannah WeeMathematical Methods Andre KhaliliHealth & Human Development Amelia CassHealth - Physical Education Trent ConsidineHealth - Outdoor Education Olivia CouttsGeography Ann-Li GuoHistory Trent OhiaLegal Studies Tiani ChanAccounting Soo Lim Vis Com & Design Miguel Olivares-MendezFood Technology Justin Hoang

UNITS 3 & 4Mathematical Methods Brooke Carroll Visual Art Megan HuntHealth - Physical Education Alex IaconelliHealth - Outdoor Education Lila CoggerHealth & Human Development Shannon O’ConnellHistory Chelsea Williams-LumleyLegal Studies Megan PykeAccounting Melinda Ngo

ACCELERATED VCE AWARDS

MUSIC AWARDS

Year 7 Wei Keat Lim Year 8 Nikita Parate Benjamin BickertonYear 9 Chayli McCann Anna Borzyak Aaron SamarniotisYear 10 Maya Grkow Sean HarrisYear 11 Shaomin LowCaptains Nikita Parate Anna Borzyak Chayli McCann Maya Grkow Shaoqi Low Katherine Lee

DEBATING AWARDS

Year 11 William Hindmarsh

SPORT AWARDS Year 7 Samantha Bignell Jayson Hong Georgia CampellYear 8 Ashley Graham Dylan ScheltingaYear 9 Hannah Darcy Luke Pearson Jakeb PearsonYear 10 Sarah Duncan Carley Hewett William Yon Ashleigh HallYear 11 Aden Dahlitz Nicola Junginger Jessica Squires Kade Gerrard

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Arts Kalina Chan Jessica Vlachos Simone Zutenis Elizabeth BarrattMedia Nikita Parate Hannah Darcy Archana

Jeyapalan Tahlia Turner

Visual Communica-tion & Design Bowen Dong Selena Dalvigas Nerika Powell Jessica Vuong Jordan Palmer

Dance Jessica Clayton Cherise Druzynski Ashleigh Hollins

Drama Daniel Perry Austin Swamy Julie Boettger Keira Plozza

Classroom Music Lloyd Cook-Rowe Felix Donahoo-Andrusiak Chayli McCann Dylan Boon Ziyan Zhuang

English Hiu Ying Tang Arella Wee Minjih Kim Ann-Li Guo Alisha Manuelpillai

English Literature Chelsea Williams-Lum-

leyEnglish Language Adele WawraEnglish Elective Samuel BickleyEnglish as an Ad-ditional Language Peter Song Juntao Mai Hui Shan Tai Riana Tan

Food Daniel Perry Daniella Saif Kaitlin Delianov Catrin Embury Elise GordonMetal Hoi Kiu Wong Harrison Shirley Yubin Kim Emma TrotterTextiles Bryson Reily Arella Wee Jacinta Thomas Jasmin Smith Laura Spottis-

woodWood Hoi Kiu Wong Harold Cortez Julia Hong Zachary Brydon Nicola Jungin-

ger

Information Tech-nology Lora Beleganska Sean Lee Kosta Kontogi-

annisMiguel Olivares-

MendezElectronics Nadine Batch-

elor Jude Zhu

Silver Jewellery Enya HuHealth Jack Edgar Tara Knight Grace Bignell Cass ManganPhysical Education Bryson Reily Daniel Strapp Kaitlyn Brydon Grace Zhang Lachlan Mil-

ligan

Outdoor Education Zoe Glazner Ashleigh Hall Emily NewsteadFrench Daniel Perry Viviana Nguyen Nadine Batch-

elorArchana Jeya-

palan Shaomin Low

GermanJack Edgar Rachel Huynh Hannah

Williams-Lumley Tiani ChanChelsea

Williams-Lum-ley

Mathematics Yucong Luo Zhen Yang Li Aaron Samar-niotis Lingxi Huang Anwell Jiang

Science Felix Chung Steven Hao Luc Minjih Kim Kathleen Ras-mussen Riana Tan

History Grace Gardiner Zhoujing Chu Rebekah Prystupa Zac Tran Molly Salmon

Geography Sherylee Campbell Shayna Daljit Sedeora Drisha Chawda Amelia Cass Elijah O’Connell

Economics Samuel Bickley Suzan Yew Megan PykeCivcs Jessica Clayton Kosta Kontogi-

annis Carly Hewett

Legal Studies Jacob BarrettAccounting Seungwon LeeBusiness Manage-ment Jordan Palmer

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S p o r t i n g c h a m p i o n s

District Cross CountryA keen cross-country squad made up of 36 stu-dents walked down to the Norton’s Park venue not once, but twice after it was cancelled due to extreme 110km/h wind weather warnings. Round two ended up being the complete opposite weather day where there was barely any wind felt at all. Students across all year levels showed great determination as they ran their 3km and/or 5km course with many students placing in the top 15 in their age group, gaining them a spot at the Regional Finals. Congratulation to the following students who progressed to the Regional Finals: Samantha Bignall, Laura Williams, Liam Hewett, Joshua Duncan, Tegbir Singh, Isabel Cause, Deane Cadavona, Ashley Graham, Luke Pearson Jakeb Pearson, Ethan Prentice, Richelle Lim, Angel Choong, Sarah Duncan, Aden Dahlitz, Denzel Ncube, Joshua Anderson and Emily Gibcus.

Regional Athletics FinalAfter yet another fantastic turn out to afterschool training sessions run by the PE staff department, we saw some impressive individual talent and natural ability at the EMR Regional Athletics Finals. Seventeen students who won their respective events at Division Level competed at the Knox Athletics Track for their chance to make it one step further to the State Finals. Our small squad, got to see seven students stand on the podium and receive their medal for placing in the top three. All performances on the day were exceptional, not to mention their behavior and support for one another. Mitchell Cadusch, 17yr 800Kyle Leung, 15yr Javelin 4thGeorgia Campbell, 13yr High Jump 1stLachlan Milligan, 17yr 200m 5th Jadon Chiang, 15yr Long Jump 4thKeely O’Connell, 14yr Shot Put 6th Aden Dahlitz, 17Yr 3000m 11thJakeb Pearson, 14yr 400m 800m 1st & 10th Kyle Galambos, 17Yr Triple Jump 5thHazim Shahrum, 17yr 1500m 8th Madi Gerloff, 17yr Discus 3rdCourtney Smith, 14yr Discus 4th Ash Hall, 16yr Javelin 2ndJessica Squires, 17yr 1500m 8th Carly Hewett, 16yr Shot Put 2ndSamuel Wong 13yr Triple Jump 2nd Jayson Hong, 13yr 80m Hurdles 2nd Special mention to Georgia Campbell (Year 7) and Jakeb Pearson (Year 9) who won their events and competed against the best athletes in the State Finals.

Other Highvale Sporting HighlightsThe Intermediate Girls Cricket Team who made it to the Regional Quarter Finals for the second consec-utive year and were the overall Eastern Metropoli-tan Champions winning the final. They progressed to the State Quarter Finals where they played in Shepparton Our Year 8 Boys badminton team making the Re-gional finals for the second consecutive year The intermediate Boy’s Netball side were the Waverley Division winners who progressed to the Eastern Metropolitan Region for the first time. Jessica Squires in Year 11, had some individual suc-cess in her sport of squash. She was selected to be a representative in the Nationals Junior Squad to compete at the World Juniors in Poland where they placed 8th overall.

We have seen our sporting teams grow this year and are seeing continued individual and team suc-cess. Get involved, sign up for a sport, grab a friend to join with you and challenge yourselves physically with integrity and resilience. Think back to how you went in sport this year and what you set out to achieve. Did you put in the hard work at training sessions? Were you satisfied with the end result? Do you want to achieve one step further than in 2016? Only one way to find out and that is to GO FOR IT!

Highvale State SuperstarsOf the hundreds of schools regis-tered within School Sport Victoria, these teams and individuals have been up their as one of the best representing Highvale SC. This is a phenomenal achievement that our Highvale Sporting Commu-nity believes should be acknowl-edged and congratulated:

Senior Girls Softball Team – Runners up State FinalistsSenior Girls Squash Team – State Champions (Jessica Squires, Sarah Duncan, Meg Anderson) Intermediate Boys Squash Team – State Finalists (Callum Burnie, Nicolas Smith, Adam Wong)All Schools State Cross-Country Championships – Sarah Duncan placing __ overallSSV State Cross-Country Championships – Sarah Duncan placing 23rd overallSSV State Swimming Championships – Kade Gerrard placing 3rd in 200m freestyleSSV Secondary School Golf State Finals – Ash Hall placing equal 5th overallSSV Secondary School State Athletic Finals – Georgia Campbell placing 5th in High JumpSSV Secondary School State Athletic Finals – Jakeb Pearson placing 1st in 400m finalAll Schools State Athletics Championships – Jakeb Pearson placing 3rd in the 400m final

Miss Kelsey Dwyer

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Athletics CarnivalThe Highvale Athletics Carnival experienced all sea-sons with plenty of cloud coverage and showers for the student’s walk down to the track but thankfully finishing the day with the sun shining through. It was busy all round for all staff running their events, com-peting students and our Year 12’s who put on their traditional BBQ where all funds raised went towards the volunteer community FIJI tour. The overall suc-cess of the day both on and off the track was fantas-tic and no amount of rain could deter a great school community vibe from the day. Grevillea house were crowned the overall winners for the day, which was their first athletics carnival win in over 6 years.

1st Grevillea- 1197 points2nd Melaleuca - 1166 points

3rd Acacia - 1146 points4th Dampiera - 887 points

Athletics Junior and Senior Champions: Girl Junior - Yasmin Oroji (Year 8) – 58 pointsBoy Junior - Daniel Hill (Year 8) – 72 points Girl Senior- Nicola Junginger (Year 11) – 68 points Boy Senior- Harris Watson (Year 10) – 42 points

Swimming CarnivalThe school’s sporting year began with Highvale Secondary College’s annual swimming carnival held at Oakleigh Recreation Centre. We were greeted with a beautiful sunny 25-degree day and watched some fantastic individual performances that saw 45 progress to the Division Swimming Finals. Once again, the Year 12 cohort put in the extra effort outside of the water modelling some fantastic costumes for the day. However, they weren’t able to demonstrate this same effort in the water competing in the Year 12 vs teachers race. The teachers (Mrs. Gomes, Miss Parker, Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Jarvis) were crowned winners of the pool! Dampiera won their sixth consecutive swimming carnival, a fantastic effort and a record yet to be broken, but were pushed by Melaleuca house who narrowly missed out by 8 points. The results tally for the day were:

1st Dampiera – (570 points)2nd Melaleuca – (562 points)

3rd Acacia – (511 points)4th Grevillea – (455 points)

Swimming Junior and Senior Champions: Girl Junior – Keely O’Connell (Year 8)Boy Junior – Oliver Gerrard (Year 9)Girl Senior– Shannon O’Connell (Year 11)Boy Senior– Kade Gerrard (Year 11)

Physical Education

Mr Adrian Schmid

With 53 different Health and Physical Education classes running over the course of the year, it has been a very busy time for all involved. Physical Activity can take many different forms and our students have been exposed to many of them in 2016. Boxing classes, wheelchair bas-ketball, Yoga, swimming, Finska and everyone’s favourite DwyerBall to name just a few of them. Ms Gomes had our Bootcamp students design-ing fitness programs, lifting weights and running laps of the oval. Mr Schmid dominated dodgeball games with amazing half court goals. Mr O’Brien displayed his dance moves and had his year 9s twisting, stepping and twirling with some excel-lent hip hop. Mr Jarvis inspired his students and watched on as Callum Burnie in year 10 set a new Highvale Beep test record of 14.1. During term 3 we held the Highvale badminton championship over 5 consecutive Wednesday lunchtimes. Over 75 students and 7 staff partici-pated in a number of different categories. The winners were Xiang Low, Terence Kok, Hyun Jun Yi, Ryan Zhang, Miss Dwyer and Ms Gomes.In the area of health education, year 7’s learnt about healthy nutrition and used this knowledge to participate in a nutrition seminar in term 4. Our ‘Child Development’ students in year 9 and 10 learnt about the challenges of taking care of a young baby as part of our ‘Baby Think it Over’ program. Elective units such as ‘Active for life’ provided opportunities for students to analyse the biome-chanics of sporting scenarios such as gymnas-tics and ten-pin bowling. Our “Racquet, Whack It and Catch It” students participated in peer coaching session, with classmates attempting to teach other skills in sports such as baseball and tennis. Students in ‘Individual Sports and Activi-ties’ learnt the basics of taekwondo through a program organised with Melbourne Taekwondo Centre in Glen Waverley. Thank you to all the staff and students involved in the Health and PE learning area this year.

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In 2016 the Outdoor Education program at Highvale Secondary College has provided students with many opportunities to expe-rience a variety of activities and locations around Victoria. Our two Year 9-10 Intro to Outdoor Ed classes developed the skills by participating in bushwalking experiences in the local Yarra State Forest near Warburton and the Brisbane Ranges National Park. The Unit 1&2 VCE Outdoor and Environmen-tal Studies class travelled to many distant locations within Victoria developing their outdoor skills and knowledge with bush-walks in the Otways and Wilsons Promon-tory National Parks. They had the amazing opportunity of swimming with dolphins and seals down the Mornington Peninsula and try their surfing skills on the surf coast. The Unit 3&4 VCE Outdoor and Environmen-tal Studies class experiences the majestic Grampians National Park, with all its history, managing to summit many of its highest peaks and scale some amazing rock faces whilst rock-climbing. They also ventured to the Great Alpine National Park where they partook in an adventurous bushwalk and experienced some adrenaline filled white water rafting. These classes not only developed the stu-dents theoretical and practical knowledge of the Victorian outdoor environment but also challenged them to grow as individu-als and as a group through many experi-ence and obstacles that where often first for many students. A huge thank-you to all staff members and CRT staff who assisted on our trips and made these experiences possible for all the students. It was a pleasure to pro-vide opportunities for the development of the students, as they experienced Victoria’s great outdoors and we hope that they will continue to do so for years to come.

Outdoor Education

Mr Simon O'Brien

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English and LiteracyMr Yasar Duyal

The Library The Highvale S.C. Library has been very exciting and successful this year. We had a busy time buying new books, including fiction, graphic novels, and non-fiction and textbooks, for the library, as well as raising a large amount of money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation during Literacy and Numeracy Week. This year, the library has had very busy lunch times as usual, but over the year we have seen an increase in card games being played at lunch time, and the library monitors have had a busy time making sure all card decks are in order. The library monitors have also loved helping to choose new novels for the li-brary’s shelves, and have worked very hard to keep all the shelves tidy and organised. In September, we organised a lot of activities for Literacy and Numeracy Week. We had great success with ‘The Great Book Swap’, with the library being flooded with people looking to find a good book as soon as the clock struck 1:10. All books were sold for $2.00 and under, and in the first 15 minutes of the book sale, the packed shelves had been almost wiped clean. We had a sausage sizzle the next day, and sold many sausages, cakes, and drinks to the hungry students and staff of the school at lunch time. We would like to thank everyone who helped out during the sau-sage sizzle with the set-up, pack-up, food and organi-sation. Later in the week, we showed a movie at lunch time. This year, we chose Shaun the Sheep, and sold popcorn and cakes. We would like to thank Madame Bosquet for lending us her amazing popcorn machine to make some yummy food for all of our movie go-ers. We also organised a Literacy and Numeracy Week dress-up day on Friday the 16th of September. A gold coin donation was collected and the many was do-nated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. We also announced the winners of competition and raffles that had been running throughout the week - such as the book raffle, guess the lollies in the jar, and how many stars in the jar - and announced prizes for ‘Best Dressed’ at the Dress Up Parade, which was held in the Community Centre at lunch time. Over the week, we raised over $1,500 for the foundation which has and will be used to help improve literacy levels for in-digenous children in remote Australian communities. During Literacy and Numeracy Week, we had the privilege of being visited by authors Kirsty Murray, author of ‘Market Blues’, who visited the year 8s, and Archimede Fusillo, author of ‘The Dons’, who vis-ited the year 7s. The students learnt a lot about the techniques the authors use for their books, as well as insight in to how they found their inspiration and ideas to create these books. Once again, the library has seen a very successful year, and has entertained many students throughout lunchtimes and school afternoons. We thank every-one who has helped us to ensure that the library is the best it can be!Written by Alethea Vassiliadis

Mrs Marian JohnsonMs Anne ManganMs Suzanne Marshall

In an era where communication and persuasion skills are of pivotal importance for the success, livelihood and enjoyability of students and adults alike, interschool debating becomes a useful development program for stu-dents to test and improve their skills. The opportunity debating offers for the refinement of these skills second to none. Debating entices people to justify arguments from an unbiased point of view, indicating potential benefits and flaws in any particular model, decision, or system. To do well in the competition students must learn the fundamental skills and technique of presenting an argument, this sort of approach inspired critical thinking, it allows participants to become well versed in, ethics, politics, economics and philosophy. This kind of engagement may have students on their toes, with the frequent secret topics for seniors, wherein they have a mere hour to analyse, critique and discuss a topic amongst themselves, before spending another hour either affirming or contravening the topic in formal debate. Held at Wesley Secondary College on Thursday evenings, debating has assisted many students in not just their speaking ability, but to a greater extent their self-confidence. As said by one of the school captains of 2016: ‘debating improved my self-confidence. It has given me the ability to quickly generate new ideas and have free, open conversation.’ Our three teams have also enjoyed immense success this year, with the year 11’s finishing top in the region, our year 10 team 2nd, and the year 9 team developing and improving newfound skills in their first season.Whether it be gain of general knowledge, significant social, economical, or political events, or improvement of social skills, debating is an essential ability in today’s community, where relations with one’s environment and the people within it are of integral significance. Allowing students to gain broad, multi-faceted knowledge, increase their confidence, poise, and self-esteem, and enhancing a learners’ analytical, research and note-taking skills, debating truly is a skill of the modern world.Written by Denzel Ncube

DebatingMrs Natalie Valentine

The English department had a very productive 2016 at Highvale, particularly with the fun-filled Literacy Week, which was once again a success. The theme this year was “Adaptations (Books to Films)”, and many teachers and students alike dressed up as their favourite characters from books turned movies. I would like to congratulate all the students who were recipients of 2016 English subject awards, Hiu Ying

Tang (Year 7 English), Arella Wee (Year 8 English), Minjih Kim (Year 9 English), Ann-Li Guo (Year 10 English), Alisha Manuelpillai (Year 11 Eng-lish), Chelsea Williams-Lumley (Year 11 English Literacy), Adele Wawra (Year 11 English Language), Samuel Bickley (Year 9 English Elective), Peter Song (Year 8 English as An Additional Language), Juntao Mai (Year 9 English as An Additional Language), Hui Shan Tai (Year 10 English as An Additional Language), Riana Tan (Year 11 English as An Additional Language), and William Hindmarsh (Year 11 Debating). A special mention needs to be made to congratulate Ella Baensch and Sahra Broumand, winners of the Literacy Award and the Insight Literacy Awards respectively, presented to them at the Highvale Presentation Night. Both students have displayed enthusiasm and positive attitude

for English, and are worthy winners of their awards. Before I conclude, I would like to emphasise the importance of reading extensively and reading to prepare for English studies in 2017. Reading as a cognitive skill helps improve not only our imagination, knowledge and understanding but also helps improve our written language skills such as spelling, vocabulary and written expression through constant exposure to accurate and appropriate language use. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy festive season and another great year full of successes and enjoyment in 2017.

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International Students

Our International Student Program has continued to grow this year with some 60 students coming from countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hungary and Cambodia. Local Highvale students have con-tinued to welcome and embrace our international students, sharing culture, food, stories and language.

Mary Zhu and Mofei Liu have been wonderful captains this year, attending a number of official events and acting as advocates on be-half of their peers. They have been active in encouraging all interna-tional students in making the most of the many opportunities they all have in studying at Highvale. This has also extended to social events, providing introductions to the culture of life in Melbourne.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our International aides, Nancy Geng and Weiping Zhu. They have been invaluable to the program and have assisted students to achieve their best in so many ways throughout the year. We are so grateful for all that they do to support our students both within and beyond the classroom.

Lastly a big thank you to all the staff for the time, care and under-standing they invest as the students navigate through their learning journey.

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."

Anthony J D'Angelo

LOTE has enjoyed another wonderful year at High-vale SC. All our elective classes have shown great dedication to their language learning. Our Yr 12 French & German students showed great enthusiasm in their studies and put a lot of hard work in throughout the year.The annual poetry compe-titions went well as usual. The Alliance Française came to Highvale and assessed all the French students for the Berthe Mouchette French Poetry Competition. And this year again we had a record number of finalists. The German Poetry Competition was also very suc-cessful and resulted in one of our Yr 7 students getting to both the regional and state final competitions! In Yr 9 and 10 LOTE, all students took part in the ACER Australian Languages Competition, gaining a wonder-ful 23 Distinctions and 11 High Distinctions.

In French, we continued with our specialised AIM program with the Yr 7s and en-joyed some new stories, such as Un Frère Pénible. In AIM, a gesture method is used to immerse students directly into the French language. Students also were introduced to songs and role pays as part of the curriculum.

The middle school students in both French and German continued with their Creative Writing units. They start in the junior school making mini booklets and over yrs 8, 9 and 10 the students gradually progress to write their own imaginative sto-

ries and longer pieces of writing. In Yr 9 French a new text book was introduced and students got to study the famous tale Le Petit Prince. In Yr 9 Ger-

man they studied the classic film Emil und die Detek-tive. This also integrated nicely with literacy week at Highvale. The students did amazing work at the end of the year, using both paper and digital formats.

The senior French class went to the City in Septem-ber to see a new French exhibition on Degas. We

also enjoyed a lovely meal at a French cafe. Both activities supported the VCE students in Units 2 & 4.

Jessica Lam returned from three months in France with the Southern Cross Cultural Exchange. This terrific ex-change offers a variety of stu-dent stay lengths, optimising a student’s preparedness for the VCE years. Sarah Dun-can (Yr 10), Jacob Barret and

Nicholas Conway (Yr 11) are currently on exchange in Germany. Applications for France and Germany

are welcome from Yr 9 onwards, and are highly recommended!

At the end of this busy year, some classes got to make their own chocolate Bûche de Noël and enjoy pétanque outside. Other classes enjoyed a German Christ-mas feast.It is so rewarding to see students appreciate the importance of lan-guages and enjoy learning French and German at Highvale.

Languages Other Than English

Mrs Kate Grennan Frau Catherine FunderMadame France Karrubee

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Fiji Trip

China TripIn 2016, a number of students from Highvale Secondary College left for an experience in China for 13 days, in which they visited Bejing, Xian, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Here are some of their reflections:

“Talking to new people opens many doors and it has been amazing learning about other cultures. Staying in a foreign country with a national language other than English can be challenging at first but you can get used to it fast! I know I'm going to be accidentally using Chinese phrases when I get home!” Lauren.

“Don't be scared to refuse to give your WeChat de-tails to strangers and it's ok to block people. Some-times the Emperor is just a figure head and someone else has the real power.” Megha.

“Bargaining is not that hard or scary. Megha is awe-some at it! China is not as horrible as people describe it to be, but the traffic is no joke.” Victoria

“When bargaining in China you just need to walk away for them to let you choose the price. A lot of people push past one another.” Maddy

“Emperor Qin initially wanted to bury people alive but settled with Terracotta Warriors instead. I was amazed at the demonstration of the anti-oxidising effect of green tea.” Hazel

“The locals are always interested in tourists and ex-panding their knowledge. Having a fixed view when travelling is not as good as just going with the flow.” Josh T

“The people and their culture is very different to our own, even though I knew this it was a lot more differ-ent than expected. Everything looks very different to how the western culture portrays it to be.” Georgia M

“Tap three times on the table with your index and middle fingers after someone pours you tea to say thank you! Be careful of a lot of bikes and scooters on the streets in China.” Amanda

“The 2nd of April is the start of a holiday called the "Festival of Pure Brightness" where everyone visits their ancestors' cemeteries to pay their respects. Traf-fic goes crazy! Approximately 5 million people out of 25 million own cars in Shanghai.” Dara

“We briefly learnt about European - American settle-ment in Shanghai - in particular the beautiful French Concession and how these influences accelerated the growth of the city. How to be understanding of oth-ers you may not usually socialise with.” Phoebe

“The streets are kept free of rubbish but there are other things that can get you sick (water). The street food smells really bad and people smoke inside.”

“You improve your bargaining skills every time you bargain. You make new friends, meet wonderful peo-ple on this trip and get to see the teachers have fun with everyone.” Elyssa

“You improve your sleep anytime, anywhere skills on holiday with a tight schedule. There are green places in China like West Lake which is close to the CBD so the cities are not all just concrete slabs.” Taylor

“I learned that you can bargain at shopping malls in China and in the streets as well. You can still mes-sage family and friends on a different app that's not WeChat, Skype and others I know.” Lachlan

For the full story, visit www.highvalesc.jimdo.com

15 students and 3 staff completed a very rewarding 10-day community project trip to Naviti Island in the Yasawa Chain of Islands. The group’s base was on Drawaqa Island at the Barefoot Mantra Resort.The students were divided into 3 groups of five and each spent 1 ½ - 2 days on each of the projects:• assistingwithreadinginthecyclonedamagedschool(class-rooms had holes in the floor and roofs half missing with not enough tables and chairs and equipment) with the primary school children and presenting to Year 12 Geography and Science classes on data findings during the marine conservation sessions, the effect of climate change and marine ecosystem management.• preparingmaterialsienailingthewoodenframeworkforthebase, wheelbarrowing gravel from the river bed and sand from the beach, making concrete and laying 3 concrete tank bases. Installing 2 tanks and guttering on the village community hall. • MarineConservationproject-collectingdataonthehealthofmangrove, coral and seagrass sections of the reef, water clarity and marine life; making coral cakes to regenerate the coral life on the reef, planting mangrove plants and identifying seagrass species through theory class and snorkelling sessions.30-40 minute boat trips (depending upon whether you were in the fast or slow boat) on calm ocean waters and under beautiful sunny skies to and from Naviti, allowed time for eager anticipation preparation for the day’s events, wind down and reflection at the end of the day and time to appreciate beautiful Fiji.The finale of the project was the handover celebration which included a kava ceremony, presentation to the elders of the Malevu Village about the effect of climate change on their village and possible op-tions for them to consider to manage that phenomenal, scrumptious tasting feast with foods cooked in the traditional lovo, dancing perfor-mances and games such as playing tunnel ball, chasey and rugby with the children and finally, the presentation of clothes from the Highvale Textile classes and 2 completed tanks awaiting the rain to fill them.Sadly, after a very emotional send off by the resort staff and the pas-sionate and inspiring Vinaka Fiji team who guided and supported us, we left Drawaq Island on the Yasawa Flyer back to Nadi where we had a half day of sightseeing before boarding the Virgin Airways plane home arriving to wet, cold Melbourne. A General Assembly was held on 5th October when the Consul of Fiji Mr Reg Hodgson and Mrs Danielle Spagnol and Mr John Roodenburg attend to address the assembly and to present a certificate to the school. Planning for the 2017 tour has already commenced with a number of students paying their deposit. A General Assembly was held on 5th October when the Consul of Fiji Mr Reg Hodgson and Mrs Danielle Spagnol and Mr John Roodenburg attend to address the assembly and to present a certificate to the school. Planning for the 2017 tour has already commenced with a number of students paying their deposit.

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INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC AND THE PERFORMING ARTSIn 2016, our instrumental ensembles have produced some outstanding presentations. The highlight was the Chamber Strings multiple Performances at Government House. In May, a representative from Government House visited the College to listen to our Chamber Strings ensemble. This group was then invited to perform for the ‘Sister Schools Welcome’ at Government House in July. The Chamber Strings were then invited back to once again to perform at the International Student Welcome Ceremony. This event was attended by the Governor of Victoria and Multi-cultural Commissioners who then recommended the Highvale Secondary College Chamber Strings return

Performing Arts

in October to perform at the Victoria's Multicultural Awards for Excellence. This was an extraordinary compliment to the Chamber Strings and their director Mrs. Janet Govan. Their presentation at the awards at-tracted the attention of many of the award recipients as well as the Governor and her husband who spoke at length to our students and complimented them on the high standard of their performance.The instrumental program has continued to offer these opportunities to our students by encouraging them to take on new challenges and embrace the op-portunity to learn a new skill. The year began with our annual instrumental music workshops where all Year Sevens and other students new to the College, were able to try out a variety of wind, string and percussion

instruments. Our specialist instrumental music staff conducted small workshops where they guided our new students through the nuances of each instrument as they tried out violins, trumpets, drums, double basses and a plethora of other orchestral instruments. In 2016, the Program involved over 200 students who joined one or more of the nine College ensembles. Theses ensembles included Stage Band, Concert Band, Nouveau Strings, Chamber Strings, Year 8 Orchestra, Percussions Ensembles Red and Blue, Choir and the 100 piece HSC Symphony Orchestra. The ensembles performed at three major concerts at the College, numerous other College functions including General Assemblies, Open Night and the Arts Show and many Community performances including Government

House and the annual NEVR event at Hamer Hall.

NORTH EASTERN REGION (NEVR) ANNUAL INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT ‘MUSIC OF THE MAS-TERS’ The 2016 annual NEVR Youth Concert titled ‘Music of the Masters’ was held on Tuesday May 24 at Hamer Hall. This was a presentation of music written by the most prominent composers in history and students from country and metropolitan Victoria are invited to apply to participate.Fifty-seven of Highvales’ instrumental music students participated in two days of rehearsals, then attended a sound-check and evening performance at Hamer Hall. The Hall is a world-class venue and students were able

Mrs Anne Linton

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to perform as part of one of five major ensembles, made up of musicians from all around the North Eastern Region of Victoria. A great experience for our musicians.

OPEN NIGHT PERFORMANCES On Wednesday March 16th, the Chamber Strings group and Year 8 Orchestra students performed for visiting members of the public. The evening was the first opportunity for our Year 8 Orchestra students to present their repertoire in the formal setting of the College Theatre. The Chamber Strings presented their music in the Senior Study Centre.Throughout the evening, our Year 12 Drama students were participating in an Open Rehearsal in the Drama Room with their teacher Mr. Carroll and Mr. Mitchell and a number of students demonstrated different activities in the Music Key-board Lab and activities room.

THE WINTER CONCERTS were held in the evening of the 9th of June. This year the College decided that due to the large demand on tickets, the concert would be presented over two sessions. The first began at 4:30 in the afternoon and the second at 6pm. Students were treated to a sausage sizzle before the concerts and then prepared for the two per-formances. The performances showcased the musical work prepared by our nine ensembles and was an opportunity for our newest performers to present publically to an apprecia-tive audience.

THE SPRING CONCERT The Annual Spring Concert was held in the College Thea-tre on the first day of Spring, showcasing the work of our more senior performance groups of the instrumental music program. The HSC Orchestra, Chamber Strings, Highvale Harmonix, Stage Band, Percussion Combo Blue and VCE solo performance students presented a wide range of musical items from Jazz to Musical Theatre to a ‘full house’.The evening began with the College Orchestra performing the fanfare theme from the 2010 Winter Olympics and was followed by a series of soloists and ensembles accompanied by some exciting visual effects including a ‘glow in the dark’ percussion combo. A wonderful evening!

THE JUNIOR CONCERT In November, the Junior Concert was held in the College Theatre on a very warm evening. The 107 musicians per-formed to a full house and presented a wide range of music from gospel to music theatre.The evening commenced with a rendition of ‘Oye Como Va’ from the percussion ensemble and ended with a powerful performance of ‘Ice Mountain’ by the Nouveau Strings. The Junior Concert gives our youngest musicians the opportu-nity to present their hard work publically and allows some students to perform solo works in a formal setting.

STAGE BAND AND HIGHVALE PRIMARY SCHOOL WORK-SHOP and HIGHVALE RETIREMENT VILLAGE In June, the Stage Band hosted a workshop with the Highvale Primary School musicians where students worked through a number of Jazz and stage band pieces and performed later that afternoon at the Highvale Primary School assembly. They performed a selection of songs for the young audi-

ence. The performance was also viewed by a representative from Government House who was visiting on the day. Students split into instrument groups, with our students act-ing as mentors to their younger peers. The secondary school students were impressed by the level of maturity and standard of musicianship of the primary school students. A special thanks to Mrs. Suzi Reid, Mr. Chris Mitchell and the Primary school staff for their support.On Wednesday 16th November, The Stage Band visited Highvale Retirement Village, our local aged care facility. They performed their entire repertoire of Jazz standards and con-temporary songs for the small, yet apprecia-tive audience. Following their performance, the students had the opportunity to chat with the residents and enjoy afternoon tea. This was a bonus for our hungry teenagers who enjoyed the supply of biscuits, lollies and drinks.

Congratulations to our Stage Band who per-formed superbly and conducted themselves in a most professional manner.

HSC ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE AT THE GRADUATION ASSEMBLY The 100 piece HSC Orchestra performed at the Year 12 on October 17th, the last day for formal lessons for our Year 12’s. As the Year 12 students moved through the centre of the assembled school, the Orchestra performed the opening of the animated musical work from Les Miserable, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’. This was followed by a vocal perfor-mance from two of our Year 12 students, Emily Palmer and Kylie Cohen. It was a great ‘send-off’ for our Year 12 students and we wish them the very best next year.

VCE MUSIC PERFORMANCE RECITALS In May and September, the Year 11 and 12 VCE Music Performance students performed

at a special recital in the Theatre. Students presented a sample of their repertoire being prepared for the October examinations, including both contemporary and traditional works on a variety of instruments to produce a most enjoy-able evening. Their performances were recorded to enable students to review their own presentations and reflect upon ways to further develop their musicality. This is a valuable ex-perience for our VCE musicians as it gives them yet another an opportunity to present part of their repertoire publically before their important performance examinations.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS VCE Music student Liam Robertson of Year 12, was selected to perform as part of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) Secondary Symphony Project which took place in February this year. Liam performed on the stage of the Iwaki Auditorium at ABC Southbank with members of the MSO. Liam performed on violin and was one of only fifty students, selected from State and Independentschools across Victoria, to rehearse and perform with the MSO . For the performance, each studentmusician was seated with their MSO mentor on stage and performed works by Shostakovich,Tchaikovsky and Marquez. A fantastic experience!Also, this year, Hannah Wee of year 10 achieved a distinction in her violin AMusA (Associate in Music Australia) examina-tion. The prestigious AMusA is awarded to students who perform a repertoire of very challenging musical works from memory. To achieve a distinction, the student must demonstrate a high level of musicianship and competence on an instrument. A tremendous achievement for a Year 10 student. Congratulations to Hannah and her violin teacher Joanne Wallwork.

AMEB EXAMINATIONS Once again, a number of students achieved excellent results in their Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB) EXAMS. Fifteen students presented for music exams from grades 1 to 5 on a wide variety of instruments and we were very pleased with their achievements this year.

HIGHVALE HARMONIX PERFORM AT THE ‘MONASH FOR KIDS’ FESTIVALOn Sunday 21st August the Highvale Harmonix took part in the Lion’s Club ‘Monash Sings for Kids’ Choir Festival, held at the St. Stephen & St. Mary Parish Church in Mount Waverley. The students performed beautifully, a 20-minute program which included a vast array of musical styles. It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy performances from other Choirs from around the community also, and get new ideas for repertoire! Highvale Harmonix were well-received by a very enthusiastic audience, with an abundance of positive feedback on how wonderful they sang.

MUSIC CAPTAINS I would like to acknowledge the outstanding job done by our Music Captains in 2016. They have been a reliable and cohesive group who have demonstrated excellent leader-ship and organisational skill in the execution of the roles and have been a great support to the staff throughout the year. Music Captains were presented with their badges at a Gen-

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eral Assembly early in the year and were great ambassadors for the College at every event. Congratulations and thank you to:SENIOR MUSIC CAPTAINS: Hazel Low, Maya Grkow and Katie LeeJUNIOR MUSIC CAPTAINS: Chayli McCann, Anna Borzyak and Nikita Par-ateNone of the outstanding presentations in the Instrumental Music Program and the Performing Arts could have taken place without the dedication and talents of our fantastic staff. I would like to thank our instrumental music staff for the many ours of their own time that they give to the College in the form of additional tuition, rehearsal and performances and the many hours they commit to organising events in which our students can partici-pate. Our staff include Mrs. Ruchi Patel (Music Secretary), Mrs. Janet Govan (Head of strings, Director of Chamber Strings and Co-Director of the HSC Orchestra), Mrs. Suzi Reid (woodwind teacher, Director of Stage Band and Co-Director of the HSC Orchestra), Mrs. Lisa Govan (woodwind teacher), Mrs. Angelie O’Brien (voice teacher and Director of Highvale Harmonix, Mr. Daniel Tedford (strings teacher and Director of Nouveau Strings), Mrs. Yin Lam (cello teacher), Mr. Dimitri Willenberg (brass teacher and Director of the Concert Band) and Mr. Nick Milosevic (percussion teacher and Director of Percussion Blue and Red). I would also take this opportunity to farewell Mr. Dimitri Willenberg (Brass) and Mr. Adam Piechocinsky (violin) who have taken on other challenges in 2017. I would like to thank them both for their service to the College and their dedication to their students. I would like to acknowledge the support given to the program by all the Staff at Highvale throughout the year particularly, Mrs. Catherine Moad (Chamber Strings), Mr. Chris Mitchell (Stage Band), Mrs. Lynden Fielding and Mr. Harrie Kingston who have given a great deal of their time assisting rehearsals and performances throughout the year.

VCE DRAMA GOES TO LA MAMAIn May, the Year 12 Drama class visited the Carlton Courthouse theatre under the auspices of La Mama Theatre to see a theatrical production and then attend a workshop discussing dramatic elements and theoretical basis of the performance. Students were able to refer to this in their final written examinations in October.

VCE DRAMA PRESENTATION In June, the VCE Drama class presented their 2016 ensemble work to an invited audience. The performances were held in our new theatre and students had the opportunity to utilise the stage area for their presenta-tions. Performing in the new theatre gave our Drama students a chance to enhance their ensemble work by presenting to an audience in an appropri-ate space. Thankyou to Mr. Carroll for organising these performances. Finally, I thank the parents of our students who have given them an oppor-tunity to develop their talents and skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Mrs. Anne LintonHead of Performing Arts/Director of Music

Market Day

This year’s Market Day was another success story.

YEAR 11 Business Management students participated in a highly successful Market Day. Students designed, planned and con-ducted business activities, following the regulations and guidelines applicable to real businesses.

Our Year 11 Business Management students delivered well planned business activities and provided most of the school with lunch-es from a very diverse and delicious menu. Teachers and students were able to choose from a BBQ lunch, nachos, pizzas, and a variety of foods. There was also a jam dunk competition.

In keeping with the reality of the day’s objectives, the groups were required to pay rent, business registration fees and taxes. This year, the students have chosen to do-nate this money to the school’s Fiji project.

Well done to our budding entrepreneurs!

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Visual Arts

Lizzie Barratt, 10.1

Another great year for the art department with students creating some wonderful 2 and 3 dimen-sional art works including paintings, prints, draw-ings, various sculptures and installation work.

Our annual arts show was officially opened Dr. Toby Juliff from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne and was a great success with approximately 400 people in attendance and awards and prizes given out to 35 students from years 7-11. Jamie Chen from 8. curated the won-derful year 7 ‘Autumn leaves’ installation which was very well received.

Our annual film festival was also well attended with students receiving prizes and certificates for their outstanding achievement and dedication.

This year, our students once again had the oppor-tunity to visit many galleries in the CBD, participate in workshops with professional artists and had vari-ous guest speakers from prominent media and film organisations visit the school.

I look forward to another year of creativity from the students of Highvale Secondary College.

Ms Helen Pappas

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Featured artists / Opposite: 1. Stephanie Lambroglou (Year 12) 2. Anastasia Ganotis (Year 12) 3. Deena El-Shabasei (Year 8) 4. Sarah How (Year 12) 5. Crystal Luong (Year 9) 6. Jared Koh (Year 10) 7. Samantha Alldridge (Year 9) 8. Elysia Gomez (Year 12) 9. Jamie Chen (Year 8) / This page: 1. Paige Awsumb, Cassie Smith (Year 7) 2. Jamie Chen (Year 8) 3. Taylah Harrison (Year 9) 4. Simone Zutenis (Year 9) 5. Jacob McCourt (Year 10) 6. Leilani Smith-Williams (Year 12)7. Ashleigh Laurence (Year 12)

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TechnologyThe Technology area continues to see some excit-ing products produced by students following the introduction of a number of new subjects in 2016. The multi materials area with Mr Peter Nance produced a variety of sun lounges, cubby houses and enjoyed mastering some wood turning. The middle school jewellery class have created some original pieces of work under the guidance of Mr Chris Cain.Textiles classes with Mrs Wendy de Wolde and Mrs Gaynor Thorpe involved themselves making pinafores and library bags using recycled materi-als. These have been delivered to an Orphanage in Fiji this year and to Africa early in 2017. We would also like to congratulate a number of students on receiving awards at the Royal Melbourne Show this year for articles they produced in the Textiles area.Miss Laura Nijenhuis has been cooking up a com-petitive storm inside and outside the classroom utilizing bar-b-ques which engaged students and staff in a very positive manner. A new subject Food Design has also seen students producing some appetizing cakes and gourmet sausage roles.The Principles of Hospitality class ran a pop up Café and also did a wonderful job catering for the Art Show and Open Night outfitted in their new Highvale aprons, looking very professional.Mr Bruce Burns has been building programmable robots in a new work area in A8 technology wing. The Electronics area introduced the basic concepts of electronics and building kits that flash and buzz.ICT students have been producing some excellent games, websites and programs demonstrating some advanced skills in the selected software.The standard of VCE work from all areas still continues to improve and if you have visited our foyer area throughout the year you have hopefully enjoyed viewing some of the students work.

Mrs Wendy DeWoldeRoboticsMr Bruce BurnsMr Jack StirlingHighvale introduced a Lunchtime Robotics club in 2016 where students can design and build Robots to com-pete in a world game called Vex EDR. The club was very popular so we established four separate teams, one for girls and three for boys with students from Year 8 to Year 11.

Each team had to develop teamwork, design, construc-tion and documentation skills with only weeks before the next full day competition so a sense of urgency was in the air. In all we had 5 successful full day competi-tions held at Camberwell Secondary, Highvale, Hillcrest (Berwick), Emmaus and finally the Wangaratta nation-als.

We attended the nationals at Wangaratta knowing that we faced 26 teams and the leaders were still improving. After leaving at 6:30am we arrived at 10am and straight into competition. Two fields were in operation so the pace of was quite fast but to the credit of our teams most finished in the top ten and our year ten boys team came third overall. The judges also examined the log books created by our teams during the session and found the girls to be highly detailed and so awarded them the national design award.

A very successful start and I would encourage students to push their boundaries and get involved in 2017!

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MathematicsWhat a busy year it has been in the Science depart-ment at Highvale Secondary College! Our newest budding scientists demonstrated so much curios-ity and enthusiasm as they learnt about the world around them, while also adapting to their new school environment. Conversely, our newly gradu-ated Year 12 students made us all proud with their hard work and dedication as they successfully com-pleted their VCE.

This year, the theme for National Science Week was “Drones, Droids and Robots”. In recognition of this special occasion, our junior Science classes learnt about the fascinating development of robotics over the years and how these advancements in technolo-gy will not only benefit our society, but also change it forever. Many lively discussions and debates were had in class arguing the benefits and drawbacks of our ever increasing reliance on technology, from the increased safety of self-driving cars to the threat to our privacy from flying drones.

This year, Highvale’s Science Club also participated in the Science Talent Search again. Under the ex-pert guidance of our very enthusiastic Mr. Kingston, students researched and created posters on the topic of “Drones, Droids and Robots”. As always, the team members did us proud, with one of our students, Steven Luc, even winning an award for his outstanding work!

In closing, I would like to thank all the hard work-ing and dedicated staff in the Science faculty. Your commitment to providing the best possible learning opportunities for our students ensured that every-one was challenged to do their best and was able to achieve success.

Enjoy the holiday break and see you all in 2017!

ScienceMr Jason Galle Mrs Joanne Smith

In 2016 the Mathematics Learning Area has had a very busy and productive year. Curriculum devel-opment and alignment was again a major focus for the learning area. This involved revamping the three units that make up the core Year 9 pathway along with auditing all other units to ensure they align with the new Victorian Curriculum in 2017. The improvements to the Year 9 units will allow the learning area to make more informed pathway recommendations for students moving into the senior school which should in turn result in better outcomes for all students looking forward. Ad-ditionally, 2016 was the first year of the revised VCE study design and I would like to thank all VCE teachers for their efforts ensuring the new VCE curriculum was delivered to the highest standard.

As a school we must again celebrate the achieve-ments of the students. Our VCE results in Further Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Special-ist Mathematics were very good with a number of students achieving study scores above 40 and one student even scoring a perfect 50. The per-formance of the Year 7 and 9 students on the NAPLAN testing was excellent showing that the students at Highvale Secondary College achieved results above the state schools average for Nu-meracy in all areas tested.

Finally I would like to thank all of the dedicated staff from the Mathematics Learning Area. Your professionalism and diligence have enabled the faculty to have a very successful year.

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This year has been another busy year in the careers centre working with parents, students, staff, em-ployers, university and TAFE representatives. During Focus Group a range of speakers informed students about further education and training options at the University of Melbourne, Monash University, ACU, RMIT, Latrobe University, Swinburne University and Holmesglen TAFE. The yearly Careers Expo continues to attract over one hundred and fifty students and their families. Collect-ing relevant and up to date careers resources is a neces-sary step in career develop-ment.We are delighted to report that at the start of 2016 that over 94% of our year twelve students went on to further study and education.

Looking at the Future of Work Program - NAO the Humanoid Ro-bot and the Virtual Careers Expo The Department of Education in conjunction with the Careers Education Association of Victoria funded a Virtual Careers Expo. The project co-ordinators boarded the WOWOW Bus with NAO the Humanoid Robot (with his keeper from The Brainary Interactive). The WOWWOW bus travelled to coun-try Victorian schools. Over four thousand students participated in the Virtual Careers Expo and were able to get a taste of the future growth industries for Victoria. Stu-dents viewed short videos using the Samsung VR Glasses. Samsung 3D Immersive Technology Glasses and the Virtual Careers Expo showcased over 30 booths in a virtual environment.

A Report by Sam Bickley (Year 9):Chayli McGann (also a year nine student at Highvale Secondary College) and myself were lucky enough to have been asked to attend the launch of the bus at Martin Place, and were even able to try some of

the exciting products they had in store for other students. The virtual reality goggles transport you to another world and it was incredible to feel as if you were under the sea or in front of a huge wind farm. NAO definitely stole the show however, kicking off the pres-entation with a bang and wow-ing all of us in the room with his dance moves to ‘Thriller’. Imagine being able to hop onto your everyday school bus, but

being able to see what the future of work like. Well the Victorian Department of Education have done just that, and with the aid of the newest technology in Australia, they will be driving this bus all around Victoria to rural schools. The WOWOW (World of Work on Wheels) Bus was launched on the 2nd May outside Martin Place and travelled to over 20 schools across the state, educating over 10,000 coun-try students from years 7-10 on career opportunities that they may not get to experience in these rural areas. The students were able to experience cutting edge technology with virtual reality gog-gles that depict growth industries such as food and fibre and sustainable energy technologies. Each school was also given one of the 20 pairs of goggles, specially made for the WOWOW bus, for aid in their Technology education. A robot named NAO will also make an appear-ance at the schools, NAO can sing, dance

and speak and engaged with the students.

Chayli McGann and Sam Bickley represented High-vale Secondary College at the official launch of the WOWWOW bus at Treasury Place.

CareersMrs Mae Batrouney

Student Wellbeing

The Student Wellbeing team have supported all our students to take positive action and responsibility for their physical, social, emotional, moral and spiritual health by providing resources and strategies to the stu-dent and their families. We provide curriculum support, professional learning, family and individual counselling and manage a variety of programs that empower and enable our young people to be happy and healthy.

It is with mixed emotions that I say farewell to my role as Student Wellbeing Director and that I say good-bye to Highvale (I’m getting teary as I type this-ugh). I would just like to personally thank all the students, families and staff for all their support of me and student wellbeing. It has been an honour to assist and support you. I truly believe we are on this earth to help people and I hope I have done that.

I have loved my time at Highvale and this school is so very lucky to have such wonderful staff, students and families. I know our students are in very safe and capable hands and will succeed in whatever endeavours they pursue.

I think it important to reflect and affirm ourselves and take the time to acknowledge and celebrate our achievements and our accomplishments and not just academic accomplishments but intrinsic achievements too such as being a good friend, listening to others, supporting people in times of need and being kind. It is also a time of reflection and creating goals for the New Year and considering how we will all make 2017 an even better year.

Ask yourself-

What was a moment that I was proud of this year?

When was I a true friend?

What was my biggest challenge and how did I overcome it?

What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next year?

How can I mange my emotions better?

Am I being fair to myself?

What can I do to create the change I want?

Take time out to celebrate yourself. Every new day is a new beginning.

One of my favourite quotes is f rom Maya Angelou-“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I hope I have made people feel loved, empow-ered, valued and heard.

Wishing you all the very best for a wonderful 2017. I will miss you all.

Mrs Caroline Leavey

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DecemberProgram

Congratulations and thankyou to all the students who participated, we received wonderful feedback from venues, visiting facilitators and staff on their fantastic behaviour throughout the program. And thankyou to all or fabulous staff involved in mak-ing all the activities, excursions & incursions run smoothly and a really fun and enjoyable experi-ence for all involved.

Week 1 TopicsYear 7 students participated in the Animalia Pro-gram during the first week which included a Zoo excursion, Reptile Encounters incursion & Guide Dogs incursion. They also worked within their home-groups to present fabulous performance/presentations including, posters, power-points, fact files, poems and rap songs. Well done to all groups for their team efforts. Students also studied RSPCA and Human Impact topics, giving them a rounded experience and understanding of the Animal King-dom.Year 8 students participated in the BayPlay Pro-gram which included an excursion to Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary for sea kayaking, beach games & marine presentations. At school students partici-pated in a CPR course run by Life Saving Victoria and met a life guard in the Sink or Swim program. They studied the Great Barrier Reef & worked within their home-groups to create fabulous sea creature posters, fact files, poems and brochures were displayed in admin foyer. Students should have a very good understanding of Water Safety, Sea life & Life Saving skills.Year 9 students participated in the City Experience visiting the MCG, Acmi-Screenworld, Eureka Tower, State Library, China Town, Southbank, Birrarung Marr and Melbourne Central. Each day students visited a new area, they caught public transport

and now be very well acquainted with Melbourne City and all its attractions. Special thanks to Mr White & Ms Douglas for leading the groups each day.Week 2 Competitions This week saw the students involved in year level activities where they competed to win points for their House Teams. Points were given out by our Visiting teachers, Youth groups’ volunteers and class teachers for participation, team work, sports-manship, individual achievements, and presentation of arts & craft work and food as gifts. Activities in-cluded: cheer competitions, youth group & reindeer novelty games, trivia, jump rope, coach approach sports expo, arts & craft movies and board games. Final scores: 1st place Grevillea 3486 points, 2nd place Melaleuca 3243 points 3rd place Acacia 2517 points, 4th place Dampiera 2479 points

Congratulations to Grevillea for their outstanding team effort and to all the other teams for enthusi-asm & participation

Week 3 ExcursionsOn Monday all students went to Knox Leisure Works pool for some aquatic fun with the giant inflatable, water slide and free time. Wednesday students visited the Carribbean Gar-dens & Market in Scoresby where they were able to purchase gifts, shopping and food from the large variety of stalls Thursday students trekked their way to Jells Park enjoying the natural environment, scenery and wildlife along the wayThanks to all the students who came along and helped on Enviro Day, due to their efforts many great projects were able to be completed including upgrading garden beds, mulching, pruning, top-ping gravel pathways between the admin and gym area. Also thank-you to the group of students who helped design art work and posters for our wheelie bins and beautifying environment & making the SRC Enviro Video to be used in Focus Groups during 2017. Many thanks to, Mr Hurley and Ms McGain for their involvement in this environment projectMany thanks to Mr Hurley and Ms McGain for their involvement in this environment projectAnd special thanks to Ms Lynden Fielding for her amazing support and tireless assistance throughout the delivery of our end of year programBest wishes to all

MrsDebra Gale

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Teams did general cleaning of learning spaces, resulting in spar-kling bench tops. Footpaths and courtyards were beautifully swept, the gardens benefitting from the retrieved mulch and all the organic debris. Dead branches and shrubs were removed and plants were carefully pruned. There was a gen-eral quality control check that the school grounds were free of litter leading into the holidays. Toppings and soil was spread between the Admin hub and the Community Centre to beautify, replenish and reinvigorate the lawn.

The artwork and slogans that students developed to beautify the wheelie bins were an inspired effort and closely aligned with the SRC’s thinking. An SRC student action group audited the condi-tion of the yard wheelie bins earlier in the term so that repairs could be organized; also, their number and location towards a revised bin location map for implementation in 2017. The SRC has also discussed consequences for students who lit-ter, and the timing of Focus Group Enviro Action on a regular basis. Further on Enviro Day, about fifty students were involved as the main actors or as extras in the ‘changing the student mindset’ video for the SRC Clean Up campaign. The video

Student LeadershipMs Lynden FieldingThe student leaders at Highvale have made a real difference during the 2016 school year across many areas of school life – the Senior School and Junior School, SRC, Library, Sport, and Music Captains have made committed, persistent and responsible contributions.

The following Student Representa-tive Council members are acknowl-edged for providing a thoughtful and caring student voice and for being persistent and creative lead-ers:Year 12 - Anushka Agarwal, Alison Ncube, Lyndelle Chan.Year 11 - Harry Breeuwsma, Jas-mine Cassai, Kade Gerrard, Will Hindmarsh, Denzel Ncube, Jessica Squires.Year 10 - Olivia Coutts, Carly Hewett, Sarah Duncan, William Yon.Year 9 - Sam Bickley, Josh TranYear 8 - Amy Chu, Troy Dungan, Joshua Duncan, Sugandha Sharma Year 7 - Ananya Mittal, Dominic Grkow

Students across the school support-ed the SRC Free Dress Days with gold coin donations. In 2016, the SRC distributed funds to a number of charities and causes, including.Anzac Wreath, Youth Discount Cards, Good Friday Appeal, Austral-ia Pacific, Youth Foundation – Fiji Project, State Schools’ Relief, and Robotics Club.

The SRC was busy developing ideas for its Clean Up Project during Semester Two. Enviro Day on Friday 17th December saw a range of the SRC’s micro actions effected. On Enviro Day – Friday 17th Decem-ber, the Junior School students and staff worked in small teams of four to twelve members, mentored and encouraged by the staff and their peers. Students and staff were all leaders on the day!

will spearhead the SRC’s Term 1 anti-littering awareness campaign next year as it is rolled out in Focus Group sessions. Thank you to the teachers who suggested this action at a staff meeting to generate ideas for the SRC’s project, to Mr Hurley for developing an initial script, and to Miss McGain on the day, who designed the final video produc-tion.

Thank you to the school commu-nity, which responded well to the call-out for plastic shopping bags to be re-used as a receptacle for rubbish during tong pick-up time.

As the year progressed, the SRC held serious discussions, and raised a number of issues and ideas, some that could be resolved with some research and others for further consideration into the new year, including:Aspects of College Uniform, includ-ing Winter Ties for Girls, Pet Thera-py, Food Packaging (Recess/ Lunch – from home and Canteen), Soap and Toilet Paper Supply, Locker Bays (Closing the Gaps), Timeline for Distribution of Year 12 Rugby Tops, and Community Service – Vis-its to Retirement Villages.

Role descriptions were developed during Term 4 for the student lead-ership positions new in 2017 for Science, Robotics and Arts Captains. Students nominated for these roles and also the existing Student Rep-resentative Council, Library Moni-tor, Music, Sports and Junior School student leadership positions during November and December.

Thank you to all students who held formal leadership positions during the 2016 school year; as well, the many students who demonstrated leadership characteristics and quali-ties each and every school day.

Thanks to all of the staff and students who have provided content for the 2016 High-vale Magazine. Special thanks to Tara Knight for her dedicated work in the develop-ment and production of the magazine this year, and thanks to Jaz McLennan for her wonderful cover and artwork throughout the magazine. - Mr Tom Barton, Magazine Editor

Highvale Secondary CollegeCapital Avenue, Glen Waverley, 3150Melbourne, AustraliaTelephone: +61 3 9803 5144Fax: + 61 3 9803 4310Email: highvalesc@edumail.vic.gov.auWeb: www.highvalesc.vic.edu.au