Wow, I cannot believe it is Week 4 already!  The weeks are flying by and I haven’t prepared my end of the year speeches yet.  I had better get on to it, but first, let me fill you in on a few important matters:

Home and School Partnership

We have some exciting news about the Home and School committee for 2020.  Next year’s Home and School committee will be a project-based committee.  That means that parents will be able to join a project that will be running throughout the year and committing to just a few weeks for a project, without the pressure of committing for a full year.  How does that sound?

The projects, including commitment times and the date of the event will be advertised to parents well ahead of time and parents who want to help organise the event will be able to join that committee only and then, of course, reapply for future projects as they become more available.

Parents who register their interest for a project will receive a special pack which includes:

• A special drink for energy
• A lanyard showing you are part of the committee for the duration of the project
• A special wifi password
• A code for printing[1] 

The first project
So what is the first project? 

The first Home & School project is a barbeque picnic with family games, Term 1, 2020.

What a great opportunity to meet and greet families from both campuses of Heritage College.  The date is set for Sunday, 23rd February, from 11am to 3pm.  Are you interested in helping out?   If you want to be a part of the planning for this awesome event, please register by clicking the link below:
 

https://forms.gle/U9EcoskQb9jD9Dc36[2] 

So what do I need to commit to?

COMMITMENT:

- 4 one-hour meetings or “chats” (2 meetings during Term 4, 2019 and 2 in Term 1, in 2020)

- Various tasks as allocated by the project committee (mostly during Term 1, 2020)

- The actual event

Who is in charge of the planning?
Have you met Mrs Carmel Ackerman and Mrs Pania Walker?
Here is their message below:

Have your say about your school!

Now on to a very important topic: Student and Parent Voice!

In 2020 Heritage College will begin looking at Student Voice and increasing the capacity of students to share their thoughts and feelings on various topics.  Watch this space!

Just as interesting, however, is that I would also like to launch a Parent Voice project.  This project will allow parents the opportunity to have your say about your school.  There are many ways to facilitate parent voice - at a school meeting, online discussion forum, casual conversation, individual parent-teacher conference and so on.   So which of these forums do you think will work best?  Please let me know in the link below.

But first, let’s get started with your topics for Parent Voice. What are some things you would like to have your say on?  Our first step into Parent Voice will be to gather your interests for discussions, so jump on to the link below and add your voice.  

Please click the link:  https://forms.gle/bLcALSiroy2xgQVM8

Thanks for having your say!

Mr Sonny Aiono

Principal

Monday, 4th November

Student Free Day

School Closed, ELC Closed

Tuesday, 5th November

Melbourne Cup Day

Wednesday, 6th November 

Spelling Bee OCP 9:15am, NWS 9am

7th - 8th November

Year 9 Solo Camp

Friday, 8th November

Colour Run Fun Run OC

Monday, 11th November

Remembrance Day

Wednesday, 13th November

NWS Prep Orientation Day 4

Friday, 15th November

Report Editing Day

Student Free Day

Wednesday, 20th November

VCE Examinations Conclude

Year 12 Formal

Sunday, 24th November

Nepal Trip Commences

Tuesday, 26th November

OCP Prep Orientation Day 4

Wednesday, 27th November

2020 Year 7 Classroom Orientation

Tuesday, 3rd December

Primary Swimming Carnival

Wednesday, 4th December

2020 Classroom Orientation Years 1-6

Year 6 Celebration Dinner

Thursday, 5th December

Nepal returns

Monday, 9th December

Service Projects Secondary

Presentation Night (NWS)

Tuesday, 10th December

Service Projects Secondary

Presentation Night (OC)

Last Day Term 4

Friday, 13th December

Staff Christmas Function

Staff Finish

Tuesday, 17th December

Offices Close

Thursday, 19th December

ELC Closed

Thursday, 23rd January

Registration Day

14th - 17th April

Curriculum and Professional Development Week - Student Free Week

If your child is unable to attend school on a specific day, please email absences@heritagecollege.vic.edu.au by 9:30am with the child's name, year level and reason for absence.  Thank you.

The use of social media to sell/buy goods is becoming increasingly popular with the whole community, especially young people.   Recently, a number of robberies have been committed during this type of transaction.   If you are planning on using sites such as Marketplace or Gumtree etc, please follow some simple safety precautions:

• Consider the time and location.   Agree to meet in a public place, where there is likely CCTV coverage, and at a time when there are other people around
• Take someone with you.   For young people, take a parent/guardian or adult friend/sibling
• When buying, be wary of items that seem very cheap.   If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
• If you become a victim, notify police immediately.

Term 4 Menu

Week 4

Prep WV - Cedric

Year 3/4C - Connor

Year 3MC - Allegra

Year 5W - Darara

Year 5/6RP - Anesu and Ethan for Excellence

Year 6E - Vichara

Do you receive the Heritage College newsletter each week? We would like to hear from you.

We would like to know how you think we can improve. What do you read? What would you like to see more of? Who would you like to hear more from? What needs to go, what can we include? What format is the best for you? 

Let us know your thoughts by emailing feedback@heritagecollege.vic.edu.au.

Social Media and Safety - Kids Helpline

“Using social media is a regular part of life for most young people. Support your child to manage the risks in their online world but still enjoy its benefits.” (kidshelpline.com.au)

Kids Helpline have put together a fantastic set of resources for parents and children to refer to. Check out the following link to find out more.

Social Media and Safety

Mrs Naomi Moss

eLearning and Curriculum Coordinator

Max Pawsey Reserve, Friday, 1st November from 4-7pm

On Friday, 18th October, Heritage College celebrated the 10th anniversary of Officer campus and the 20th anniversary of Narre Warren South campus.

Marking such a significant milestone in the life of the college saw previous staff and students attend campus for the day. Hosted by the Officer and Narre Warren South campus locations with a special whole school assembly, guest speakers Mr Brian Mercer (Director, ASV Education), Mr Colin Gallagher (Founding Principal, Officer campus) and Mr Roger Sevenhuysen (Deputy Principal, Primary) spoke on ‘what it means to be a pioneer’. Concluding the official ceremony was a presentation to staff members who began at the foundations of the campus (Officer) or those have accumulated a period of 10 years’ continuous service.

Current and previous staff and students enjoyed looking at the original school photos from the first graduating class of 2009. There were lineups for the camera as original members of graduating classes of 2009 and 1999 had their photos taken - 10 and 20 years later respectively.

Apologies were received from guests who couldn’t attend on the day, including previous principals and founding members of staff:

Some of my most cherished memories were made at Heritage College, memories of the charming students and terrific staff. Those years were extremely busy with a booming student population and a building program that struggled to keep up. Margy, my wife loved conducting cooking classes for the students and community and both of us say hello to all who were there through those years and wish you God's blessings in the years ahead. ~ Previous Principal Mr Stuart Barons

Campus Principal Mr Aiono and Deputy Principal (Primary), Mr Sevenhuysen, facilitated a campus tour to demonstrate how much had changed since guests were last on campus. Morning tea and lunch was served for guests as they were shuttled between campus locations on the day.

Mr Darren Martin, who acted as the Master of Ceremonies, said of the event:

‘The Anniversary was an opportunity to for our students to meet the founding members of the college, and likewise, for the founders to see how the campus and the community have grown since they laid the foundations ten years ago. We are grateful as a community for their diligence and hard work in developing the community we enjoy today’.

Official Reunion photos can be found on the Facebook Event page.

Mrs Fiona Spence

Community Engagement Officer

The Colour Run planning is in full swing with courses mapped out, canisters of colour arriving and posters up at both campus locations. Year 10 student, Mikayla W is currently top of the fundraising leaderboard, and the overall tally of funds raised so far is just over $4,000 - almost a third of the amount needed to be raised this year!

A range of events

With a range of races available including a 500m mini dash, 1 km, 2km and 5km options, choose which course to participate in when you register.

Easy Sponsorship Goals
In order to participate in Colour Run 2019, each registrant needs to raise a minimum of $10. With this level of sponsorship, each participant earns for themselves an awesome prize from which to choose.

How to register

Visit the following link https://schoolfundraising.com.au/ and click on the “Student Sign Up” button to create a profile. The Run is registered as a single, whole school event, so all students will need to select ‘Heritage College - Officer.’ (please note: as the event is based at the Officer campus location, please use this entry rather than the one that is available for Narre Warren South. The event location is something that we cannot change or combine using this third party website). Choose your goal based on the prizes you would like to earn and share your page with friends and family to find sponsors.

Support Year 12 Service Trip
The Colour Run supports fundraising efforts for the annual Nepal Service Trip. Each year, the graduating Year 12 students travel to Nepal in partnership with ADRA to support communities in need.

Event Details

Friday 8 November, Officer Campus

11:15am - 12:55pm

A shuttle bus will run from Narre Warren South to allow all students to participate.

We look forward to seeing the whole campus come together again for this great event!

Miss Elyse Taylor

Event Coordinator

During the month of October, our Officer Campus Primary and Narre Warren South Campus are participating in the VicHealth Initiative “Walk to School - Building healthy habits for life”. Each class has a large chart where students can record if they walk to/from school each day. This is also a great opportunity for students to ride their bike or scooter to school.

As a family, we invite you to discuss this initiative with your child and see how you may integrate this into your normal morning/afternoon routine. Sometimes walking to school is not an option due to the location that we live, and so we have a few suggestions that may get you thinking about how your child could be involved. 

Option 1: Walk/ride from home to school (with parent permission, supervision or assistance)

Option 2: Park your car at a nearby Reserve or Park and walk to school as a family

Option 3: Participate on the dates when teachers will be supervising from two locations:

• OCP Students are invited to walk to school together (including bus students) on Monday, 28th October from the Officer Recreation Reserve carpark. Drop off at this location will be between 8:30 - 8:45am.

• NWS students are invited to walk to school together (including bus students) on Tuesday, 29th October from the Wood Road Reserve carpark. Drop off at this location will be from 8am until school commences.

Mrs Kim Nuske

Walk to School Coordinator

Year 7 2020

Our Year 7 2020 cohort is shaping up to be one of our biggest to date with two full classes of 24. We have 48 spaces, 47 are confirmed and we only have one confirmed place left before we switch over to a waiting list. So if you're thinking of Heritage College Year 7 2020, don't delay - submit your application to secure the last confirmed space.

Prep 2020

Our Narre Warren South Prep 2020 class is filling up with 18 confirmed places already taken leaving around 6 places left. Our future preppies have enjoyed two orientation days and are already starting to form friendships with their peers, rapport with their teachers and are becoming more familiar with their classroom and play area environment which is a great first step in helping them to settle in quickly next year. 

Officer Prep 2020 is also filling quickly with 14 confirmed places already taken. Avoid the traditional rush of Term 4 and disappointment by securing a spot for your Prep today. Enrolling at Officer Campus offers the added bonus of continuing at the same Campus right through to Year 12. The campus features a newly opened MPC and sprawling grounds set in quiet bush surrounds but only minutes away from established housing estates and the retail hubs of Officer and Pakenham, Officer campus is a great choice for your Prep.

Early Learning 2020

There are still spaces for Early Learning 3 and 4 Year Old Programs available. Tours for families with 3 and 4 Year Olds are welcome to tour on Tuesdays at 9.30am, or with older children, can join in the larger campus tours and still experience the Early Learning Centre room on Thursdays at 9.30. Simply book your preferred tour date online. A reminder to all Early Learning families for this year to please submit your application for enrolment for Prep 2020 by the second week of Term 4. 

Tour Heritage College in Term 4 - Last Tour Dates Released for 2019
Head to our website to book a tour date online at Officer Campus (Early Learning - Year 12) or Narre Warren South Campus (Prep - Year 6) or contact our friendly office staff who are ready to assist you with booking a tour. Our tours run every fortnight at Narre Warren South (Mondays) and Officer Campus (Thursdays), facilitated by our Deputy Principals. Deputy Principal (Secondary), Mr Darren Martin, will answer any questions you have regarding VCE/VCAL and his tours are full of information regarding subjects offered and the secondary curriculum at Heritage College. Primary tours are facilitated by Deputy Principal (Primary), Mr Roger Sevenhuysen and are a great opportunity for prospective families to ask questions regarding the curriculum offered at primary level, meet the classroom teachers, discover extra-curricular opportunities available, hear about the history of the Campus and the plans for growth. You'll find our Leadership team to be dedicated, fun and focused on the best outcome for your child when they come to Heritage College.

Siblings joining us next year?

If your child has a sibling joining us in 2020, please remember that each child requires a separate enrolment. Please contact our enrolments coordinator at your earliest convenience as places fill very quickly in the early years' levels. 

New students Term 4

We accept enrolments in all year levels and Term 4 will see some new students join our 2019 cohort across both Campuses. The first day of Term 4 will see two new secondary students, as well as five new primary students, begin their journey with Heritage College. If you see them around campus, please remember to stop and make them feel welcome and help their transition into a new school be a smooth one.

Jackie our Enrolments Coordinator is ready to assist you through the enrolment process and can be contacted by calling 9796 0100 (Option 3).

Mrs Fiona Spence

Community Engagement Officer

Summer Camp Registrations for 2020 are now open:

Gap Camp: 16-18 years old

https://events.adventist.org.au/ew/app/registration/index.html?e=3516&fbclid=IwAR2o-CGAPPyoBw1NwqlUX5f1OcTJ0UkTfs9xk56aKax0C0zd0WPEze9FZMg

Junior Camp: 10- 12 years old

https://events.adventist.org.au/ew/app/registration/index.html?e=3520&fbclid=IwAR2bKIaXNkXpaDKHWovWZtpjdkNYz3zJFQfvPdc4rg9ayBkFD6FYI2dao4E

Teen Camp: 13-15 years old

https://events.adventist.org.au/ew/app/registration/index.html?e=3519&fbclid=IwAR0de3I7hc9P1A0Cx-nC7h5SGwT9KfQlTwLSc2KN_gbLv0g63cF3aJ1XlpI

Be sure to register before 10th October to catch the Early Bird Rate.

Thanks and Blessings.

VicYouth

Did you know that Heritage College has received over 900 likes and is growing each day? 

We welcome contributions by our parent community on our Facebook page. Remember if you ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ and ‘Share’, then our content has a higher chance of being seen by others in your friendship groups and beyond. 

We also welcome parent reviews on our Facebook page, so if you love your school, let us know and leave us a star rating.

Mrs Fiona Spence

Community Engagement Officer

Literacy Legends

One main focus area in terms 3 and 4 are letter sounds. Many hands-on activities are woven into the program to entice the children to practice saying the phonic sound of each letter. There are games at mat time, songs, table-top activities and even sensory activities. These all help with word association as well as phonics development. 

Last week, for the letter N, a nature hunt was undertaken with much excitement and a volcano was built using newspaper. By far though, the highlight for the children was the laundry washing day for revision of the letter L! It was great fun for them, all while strengthening their fine motor skills, social skills and letter knowledge. You are very welcome parents -  your child can now help with the washing! ☺

The educators are proud of the progress the children are making. We notice changes in their skills every day. The kinder 3's and 4's are developing a love for learning that is needed for future success in their schooling years. Well done little ones, you are all amazing!

Numeracy Ninjas

Throughout the year, numeracy and maths concepts are introduced in various ways. Last week, the children enjoyed a Monster Maths game for revising the letter M. Skills in number recognition, counting and grouping were developed or consolidated, as they matched the numeral to the dice quantity on their monster. Some children are learning to recognise the groups of numbers without counting the individual dots!

Addition games have also been a favourite for some of the children. Using bean bags and other objects to visualise addition sums is helping them to expand and strengthen their abilities to work through and make up their addition sums.

Sun Smart Soldiers

Parents, please remember hats for your children. The weather is getting hotter, and sun protection is so important, at this time of year. It is also sunscreen time, so if you need to provide a special lotion for your child, please see the educators. Otherwise, there is also a generic one that can be used, which the centre provides. Also, even though it is hot, we still require that children wear clothing that covers their shoulders entirely. No string straps, or tops with very minimal shoulder coverage.

Miss Ness

It promised to be a great day with the sun shining and the temperature being at a somewhat bearable level. The students were excited and felt ready to play against the other schools in the Adventist Schools Victoria (ASV) system. The students quickly realised that this day would not be as easy as they would have hoped. This day, as it turned out, was going to be a tough, hard, excruciating and yet fun, day of playing soccer.

It started out well, playing against Gilson Mernda, we opened the scoring with Uluak Uluak shooting our first goal. From that point onwards, scoring got a little scarce with a few own goals thrown in, we managed to score in every game bar one or two but ended up at the bottom of the table after all of the ‘round robin’ stages had finished. We had a gallant effort by all students involved and they tried their best, even though they got really fatigued.

In the end, every student that attended gained a great experience and enjoyment from participating in the tournament and we look forward to doing better next year. After all, having fun at what you like doing is what it is all about.

Mr Andrew Walrip

Teacher

Please make a note of the dates and events below that apply to your child/ren.

Uniform Term 4

• Weeks 1-3: follow the swimming timetable

• Weeks 4-9: Full Summer Uniform - Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; Sport Uniform -  Tuesday and Friday

• Prep students wear Sport Uniform every day

Traffic Light Lunch Boxes Reminder

• Recess: fruit, vegetables, salad, yogurt or cheese & crackers (or other ‘green’ foods)

• Lunch: sandwich, wrap, roll (or other savoury)

• Water Bottle: labelled with child’s name

When students have healthy ‘brain-food’ we notice that they are able to concentrate longer on learning and participate in learning without becoming tired. 

Events & Special Days in Term 3: Reminders will be sent home closer to each date/event

• Lunch Orders Orders in weekly on a Monday and food is delivered fresh on Wednesday

• School Banking Every Thursday

• Walk to School Comp. Whole Month of October - Walk to school each day!

• Year 4 Sleepover - Thursday, 31st October - Friday, 1st November at NWS Campus

• Long Weekend - 4th and 5th November: Melbourne Cup Long Weekend - No School

• OCP Music Concert - Thursday, 7th November

• Remembrance Day - Monday, 11th November

• Year 6 Transition Day 4 - Tuesday, 12th November

• Student Free Day - Friday, 15th November

• 2020 Prep Orientation - Tuesday, 26th November (Day 4 of 4)

• 2020 Year 7 Orientation - Wednesday, 27th November - Full Day

• Swimming Carnival - Tuesday, 3rd December

• 2020 Orientation Day - Wednesday, 4th December: Current Prep-Year 5 students

• Year 6 Celebration - Wednesday evening, 4th December (Students and Parents invited)

• Combined Assembly - Friday, 6th December: Includes Chapel, Assembly & Lunch provided

• OCP Water Fun! - Monday, 9th December

• Last Day Term 4 - Tuesday, 10th December

• OC Presentation Night - Tuesday, 10th December (6pm start)

If you know of family or friends who are interested in enrolling their child at Heritage College Officer Campus, please encourage them to make contact with the College as classes for 2020 have limited spaces. 

Mrs Kim Nuske

3IC

Heritage College primary gives out weekly Positive Behaviour For Learning (PB4L) awards that highlight and encourage students who demonstrate one or more of the college values. Each student is awarded a "Stand Tall" card, which is then added to the tally of House points.

This week’s value highlighted the students’ application of the value ‘Excellence’. It includes not only their learning achievements, but also their attitude and behaviour.

Congratulations to the award recipients this week:

Prep: Cedric, William and Bontu

Year 1-2: Sharon, Sharlea and Nyanyout

Year 3-4 : Maaseiah

Year 5-6: Noah

Mrs Kim Nuske

3IC

On Tuesday, the 29th of October, the senior primary school soccer team took part in the annual Adventist Schools Victorian tournament. This was the first time Officer has taken part in the event, and it showed, as eleven nervous faces stepped onto the field against the red-hot favourites.

Despite struggling through that first game, the team rallied together to end up winning 3 of the 5 group stage games. This was good enough to qualify for the 3rd vs 4th place final. Officer pulled an early lead only to concede a goal against the run of play, early in the 2nd half. The team pressed on for the winning goal and were rewarded with a fortuitous penalty. Caleb calmly converted the spot kick; winning OCP the bronze medal.

Congratulations to Abdissa, Alexis, Brooke, Caleb, Diesel, Hudson, Jayden, Jeremiah, JP, Justine, Kingston, Lauren, Lincoln, Madison B, Mireya & Sahar. Training at just about every recess and lunchtime this term certainly paid off! 

Thank you to parents, Rebeca & Dilma for supporting on the day. Thank you to Evesso, Elijah, Duressa and Matthew from Year 9, for being volunteer referees/linesmen.

Congratulations to Gilson College (Taylors Hill) for their first-place finish. Thanks to Edinburgh College for organising the day and Nunawading Christian College for hosting.

Glory to God for the blessings of beautiful spring weather and comradeship on the day.

Mr Darrell Chang

Years 3/4 Teacher

This November, students from the Graduating Class of 2019 will fly to Nepal to take part in Service Trip 2019.

Departing November 24, the students will travel to Mahadev Secondary School, Dhading (West of Kathmandu in Nepal) where the cohort will support existing humanitarian efforts to fix damaged classrooms.

ADRA (Adventist Disaster Relief Agency) has been established for some time in Kathmandu. An ongoing partnership with ADRA provides the opportunity for students to be exposed to a challenging environment, without placing them at any significant risk. The program is effective in building resilience, confidence, compassion, understanding and a sense of justice in students. These qualities are essential in preparation for adulthood. Often, students who have travelled abroad stand out to employers and tertiary institutions as these projects are acknowledged for helping to create well-rounded employees and students.

Deputy Principal Darren Martin says: “The Nepal Trip is the final opportunity for students to demonstrate the value of Service. It allows time for deep, relational connections to be formulated amongst students and staff members as part of serving local communities in a remote, challenging environment. Nepal also strengthens existing partnerships with ADRA in the region.”

Year 12 student, Jake says: “Throughout my life, I have dreamed of travelling to help those in need and improve their lives in any way that I can. This trip to Nepal is an opportunity of a lifetime to fulfil those dreams and to put a smile on the faces of everyone I meet there.”

Help support this year’s Nepal Service Trip by making a donation through the Colour Run. This is a whole campus community event, held on Friday 8 November. There’s a distance for all fitness levels to choose from and prizes to be won. Head over to schoolfundraising.com.au, create a student profile page and start raising funds!

Miss Elyse Taylor

Event Organiser

SEISS competitors  Edinburgh College, Mount Evelyn Christian School (MECS), and Mountain Districts Christian School attended Cardinia Life for the combined Badminton competition, Monday 28 October.

In some thrilling play, Heritage College demonstrated sportsmanship and excellence in the competition, playing some intense games where Heritage College students raised the standard every match.

MECS came out on top for this round of competition, with Bayside in second place.

Congratulations to all who competed!

For more information on the sports program at Heritage College, visit https://heritagecollege.vic.edu.au/learning/co-curricular/

The Year 7 Home Economics class mixed science and maths as students produced brownies for the last food prac of the year.

Students used a water bath to melt chocolate for the mix and anticipate the change of state from a solid to a liquid. The student’s prac turned out well (except for the group who used ¼ cup of baking powder instead of ¼ teaspoon - a very important lesson learnt on fractions)! Well done to all students.

Mrs Cheryl Sonter

Teacher

For more information on the secondary program at Heritage College, visit https://heritagecollege.vic.edu.au/learning/secondary-school/learning-and-teaching/

“The Shopping for Operation Christmas Child was amazing! We all started off with raising money for underprivileged kids. Mrs Bower organised our literacy/ Enrichment class to run a bake sale and we raised $200, which meant each box had $20 worth of gifts.  We also wrote letters to the children and it was an overwhelming experience.  I felt happy giving back, it is a different type of feeling than buying stuff for myself.” Eldina

“We all gathered together to make all sorts of desserts to sell because we needed to raise money for needy children living in third world countries. We did this as part of our outreach project in term 4. Then we wrote letters to the kids as part of our literacy outcomes.  We chose to shop for a specific age bracket and filled our decorated boxes with Christmas stickers." Amber

“Two weeks ago we baked or bought slices, cakes cookies, which was fun. It felt good to give back and to write letters to the children.” Jayme

“Our trip to Fountain Gate was fun but it also helped up with our literacy and numeracy skills, having to read, work out costs etc.” Ammon

“It felt great to be buying stuff for people in need.”  Caleb

“At Fountain Gate, I bought a toy car and a cap as well as other things that fitted into my decorated shoebox. I enjoyed doing this plus it was for a good cause.” Shan