Thursday 23 October 2014 www.scg.vic.edu.au Ph: (03) 8363 2000 Edition 127 The Southern Star From the Principal I spoke with the staff recently commending them for several recent initiatives – I believe our staff are usually very mindful of looking at ways of improving their performance and incorporating new activities which can better serve the needs and interests of our students – Friday’s Passion Day is a prime example of this. I wish our students a most rewarding and enjoyable experience tomorrow. Southern Cross Grammar Principal Mr. Andrew Ponsford I firmly believe that a key health sigh of an organisation or community can be seen in its commitment to innovation and growth. I cannot help but think that we are very well placed in this regard when I consider for instance the wide range of recent, new opportunities on offer:  The Maths Olympiad for students in Years 7 and 8 what is to come. I congratulate our Foundation Principal, Andrew Ponsford, Anthony Clark, our building coordinator, James Redman, Sue Rolland and the team at KLMS builders, Bill Jacobs Architects and the members of the Southern Cross Grammar Board for their vision and oversight of this transformational project! ART NEWS – Ms Murphy Marc Chagall’s dreamlike paintings draw from his family memories of a simple rural village life in Russia. His devotion to his wife influenced many of his paintings and his Jewish roots are also reflected in his work. Year One students studied his paintings with a curved horizon lines and responded by creating these oil pastel drawings of a village landscape.  The upcoming Art Exhibition for Prep to Year 6 students  Class Newsletters at the term’s commencement that outline broad objectives for Term 4  Our inaugural School Production next Thursday, 30 October  The introduction this term of a Term Magazine by Mrs Boulton and students  Expanded ways of recognising and celebrating student achievement in 2014 through our end-of-year events  Staff Meetings where staff share a professional innovation on specific topics. With regard to the Term Magazine, please read further detail in this issue of our Newsletter – this initiative is a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase and celebrate their literary talent. I have little doubt that our willingness to improve and develop – a practice that requires additional energy and commitment is a key reason for our School’s success. The new year will bring fresh opportunities within junior and middle school focussed communities and I look forward to introducing these initiatives, together with senior staff, over the coming weeks. For your interest please find attached to this Newsletter the current list of Additional Opportunities provided by SCG. Dien Tran Talia Chambers Renee Camilleri Passion8 Life—Mrs Boulton Staff initiative will see the implementation of an exciting new way we can recognise and showcase student achievements and excellent work, as well as the many other interesting things going on at the school and in your classes through a school wide termly magazine. This will provide a terrific forum in which to share all the major stories of SCG. The first trial edition of the magazine is happening this term and so we need submissions! The intention of the publication is to be student produced and driven; with of course, some staff direction and oversight. Mrs Boulton would like to hear from any budding writers interested in contributing, The magazine is proposed to be a PDF download link off the school newsletter, which will provide a more detailed record/keepsake of the term. The title of the magazine will be Passion8 Life and it will contain eight main sections as follows: Inquire, Create, Strive, Reflect , Speak Up, Marvel, Move, Adapt. There will be a couple of student competitions running over the coming weeks for the magazine – the first is to win the honour of having your front cover design on the From the Head of Junior School—Mr Carroll first edition and the second will be a landscape photography contest; the winners of which will have their ‘Contemporary’, ‘spacious’, ‘filled with light’, ‘engaging’, ‘flexible’ and ‘conducive to learning’ are words and phrases shots published in the ‘Marvel’ section. that come to my mind when I see the rapidly developing and new Southern Cross Grammar Junior School Building. This week will be a significant milestone in the history of our school and the project with the completion of the building’s footprint. Over the coming weeks the building will be fitted out in preparation for the 2015 school year. Having been closely involved in the planning, development and implementation of major building projects at two previous schools, I feel that I am well placed (Top) View of the entrance to the to comment on the works. Without doubt an F-4 building. inspection of the facility will reveal stunning New Generation Learning spaces. The massive common area strategically located in the main (Left) View of the new common hub of the school is a wonderful space! I have area at the building’s centre. included photos (right) to provide a glimpse of Thursday 23 October 2014 www.scg.vic.edu.au Ph: (03) 8363 2000 Edition 127 The Southern Star Galway Maths Olympiad—Amna Syed, Year 8 Southern Cross Grammar Principal Mr. Andrew Ponsford On October 17 a selected group of students from Years 7 and 8 participated in the annual Galway Maths Olympiad. The event was hosted by Southern Cross Grammar and we were joined by students from Aitken College, Gilson College and Australian International Acadamy. It was a great opportunity for students to show their mathematical abilities and skills through different types of activities that were very challenging. One of the two 90 minute activities was to design a roller coaster, making sure that it met with specific criteria in order to obtain full points. The areas of measurement, angles, patterns, weight and design were all taken into account for this activity. I found this to be really enjoyable and it kept me interested. The other activity was a problem-solving relay race. Working in groups of 4, one member of the team would run to the judges’ table to receive a problem. Returning it back to the table, the remaining 3 students in the team would try their hardest to solve it quickly. Once solved, the ‘runner’ would return the questions to the judges’ table to receive the next challenge. The questions became progressively harder each time. Overall, the day was a successful attempt to bring together groups of students from across our district and present our mathematical capabilities. A very big thank-you goes to Mrs Bagci who organised such a well-programmed event, and to all of the participants and helpers on the day. We’re all looking forward to another fun and outstanding Galway Maths Olympiad next year! Yarrabee Yesterday World—Class DW We went to Yarrabee Yesterday World on Wednesday, 22 October. It was fun because we turned back time to the 1900’s. We learned how life was in the 1900’s because of all the punishments like the cane and old games like Indians and Tepees. Sahib Tokhi and Ethan Vo Australian Mathematics Competition —Mrs O’Brien Of the 99 Southern Cross Grammar students who participated in this event, 9 achieved Distinction Awards (students listed in Edition 124), 13 credit Awards, 40 Proficiency Awards and 37 Participation Awards. The Prudence Award is given to the person who achieved the school’s highest number of consecutive correct answers. Congratulations to Luke Kim for receiving the Prudence Award, as well as a Distinction Award in the 2014 Australian Mathematics Competition. School Houses Schools all across the world, divide students into groups, commonly referred to as 'Houses'. Depending on the school they may be named after famous people, local streets or rivers, Australian fauna or flora, significant members of the school community and much more. Harry Potter and the sorting hat, really exposed students of the 21st century to how exciting being a member of a House can be! Can you remember from your allocation ceremony, where the names of our Houses come from? If you said the names of the stars that make up the Southern Cross, you are correct! The Southern Cross is actually one of the most recognisable patterns of stars in our skies. It is made up of five stars, four of which are significantly brighter and larger than the fifth. The four larger stars are known as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, which are consequently the names of our Houses. The fifth smaller star is called Epsilon. This is the name of our House Cup, which will presented at the Presentation Evening in December. Who will win the cup in 2014? Week 4 Calendar  Wednesday October 29, Production rehearsal  Thursday October 30, School Production, Aladdin  Friday October 31, Pets Incursion, Classes JC and SA (Below) Class DW students at school in ‘the olden days’.