Students from our College recently undertook an educational tour of our national capital.

Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributed funding of $240 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the College upon completion of the excursion.

Day 1 – Thursday
Joshua L: The first day of the 2016 Sydney/Canberra trip was so much fun. We left Perth at 5:30 in the morning for a three hour flight. We went to Bondi Beach where we had lunch. We had a look at the Sydney Opera House, which was huge, after that we went to the lookout pylons and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was 89 metres in the air! 

Day 3 – Saturday
Ryan A: Today we went to Bathurst. On the way, we went to Mount Panorama Racetrack and then arrived at the Bathurst Goldfields where we went gold panning and most of us found gold. Tonight a man told us stories and we did some dancing.

Day 5 – Monday
Riley H: Today we went to the National Archives and Parliament House, then finished off with some bowling. The Archives and Parliament House were very informative, and interesting too. Bowling was pretty much the best thing of the day. Today was awesome.

Day 6 – Tuesday
Oscar C: Today we went to the War Memorial to discover about war and to thank the people who served and protected us. When we got there we went to the discovery zone, which was where we could experience what it is like to be in the trenches, in a submarine and to fly a helicopter. After that we went to these rooms showing models, dioramas, real life helicopters, jeeps, tanks and planes. At about 5:00pm we went to an ANZAC ceremony to remember those who fought for us to keep world peace and who made Australia, Australia. It was very exciting because I got the job of carrying a wreath to the Lake of Reflection, which has the internal flame. I liked the bag pipes sound because that’s Scottish where lots of my family is from. Overall the whole day was very exciting and educational.

Day 7 - Wednesday
Sabryn C: Today we jumped on the bus ready for a day in the snow. The bus ride was about 1 ½ hours long but it was worth it. Once we had arrived we got off the bus and had some lunch and a nice snack. After eating we went to the mountains that had snow on them. We rode toboggan’s and had snowball fights it was so much fun. Once the snow time had finished we got on the bus and went to McDonalds.

If you would like to see further photos and read about the trip please follow the link below.
https://sccsydneycanberra2016.wordpress.com/

From the 15 to the 21 July, I took the opportunity to participate in Edith Cowan University¹s short Film and Video course.

It was thirteen weeks of their screenwriting course condensed down into five days.

With lecturer Dr Damien Spiccia, about twenty students completed the course by learning about narrative, characters, genre, loglines and script writing skills. Attending university for a week was an eye opening and insightful experience. I have learnt skills in ways which I wouldn't have been able to do at school.

Overall ECU was a great experience that was very different to school because you are treated as an adult, therefore more independent. The campus I used was awesome, filled with state of the art equipment and little cafes. I would strongly recommend any of the ECU short courses and would do it all again myself as I was disappointed that the week went so fast.

Kane Reinholdtsen
Year 11 Student

Two staff from the Swan Trade Training Centre (STTC) and four ex-STTC students from 2013 and 2014 are returning to Sunshine House in December 2016 to complete outstanding electrical works from last years students trip.  

Last week when I was speaking to the staff at Awareness Cambodia they happened to mention the desperate need for soccer boots for their kids at Sunshine House. Real soccer boots are extremely expensive in Cambodia and the boys at Sunshine House have been sharing one boot between multiple boys for some time.

Valley United Christian Football Club, where many of our students play football, generously donated 35 pairs of lost property boots to us. The STTC Year 11’s today kindly spent an hour or so cleaning and polishing the boots, getting them ready to be shipped to Cambodia in month or so. Mrs Charmaine Taylor, Administrator for Awareness Cambodia, was extremely grateful and commented “This is such a win for the kids, they will be absolutely over the moon to have some boots”.

This is just another fantastic opportunity for our students to spend some time thinking about the lives of those less fortunate and being able to serve in small ways with simple tasks like cleaning shoes.

Mr Peter Bolt
Head Swan Trade Training Centre

During Term 2, the Year 10 Visual Art students took part in a collaborative street art project.

Over the ten week period they learnt about a variety of street art techniques and processes including free-hand spray-painting and stencilling. Each student was able to produce one small stencilled artwork to take home, and contributed to a whole-class project that involved painting a mural on a wall overlooking the College basketball courts.

40 students were involved in painting the mural during a one day incursion with the help of experienced street artist, Darren Hutchens. The students were split into groups of 10 and each group had an allocated time bracket to work on the wall.

This bright, colourful, creative mural was a fun and rewarding experience for all involved. We could not be more pleased with how it turned out. Watch our short time lapse video to see how the mural was produced.

Painting_1 from Swan Christian College on Vimeo.

Current Year 5 students and parents are invited to attend a twilight tour of the Middle/Senior School campus, followed by an information session about the SCC Middle School.

The session will cover Pastoral Care, Learning with Technology and the structure of Middle School and will also include time for questions.

A Sausage Sizzle to aid Swanmissions will be available for purchase between the tour and the Info Session. 

When:      Tuesday 9 August
Where:     Maali Mia Theatre

If you haven’t registered for the tour yet – please go to http://tinyurl.com/SCCTT2016

Contact Details: swanevents@scea.wa.edu.au / 9374 8300

Bookings for the PP-Y10 Parent Teacher Interviews are now available on the Parent Lounge.

Click on the Parent Teacher Interview drop down menu that has appeared in the tool bar, book your times in and print your bookings by clicking the printer icon on the far right hand side of the screen.  You can save the electronic pdf, or print a hard copy version to bring with you on the day.

Parent Teacher Interviews are next Tuesday 2 August. Junior School appointments start from 2:00pm, Year 7 core teacher appointments from 2:45pm, and the remainder of the staff at 3:30pm.

You do not have to wait for Semester 1 Reports to arrive before you book in your times.

Last Wednesday at the first Y3-Y12 assembly for Term 3, Chef Rob Do Carmo, Chef Chris Martin and Chef Livio Barilo held a cook off to select who was ‘Top Chef’ in the hospitality kitchen.

The Chef’s were introduced to the students at assembly, chose some able assistants, observers and tasters, then returned to the kitchen to prepare a dish for tasting before assembly was finished.

The competition was tight, and their return came down to the wire, but they were able to produce a croquembouche and a massive stack of the large size pancakes and banana and syrup for tasting and judging.  The croquembouche, prepared by Chef Rob and Chef Livio came out on top in the tasting and both dishes were available for all students to try in the Café at recess and lunch.

Year 6 Parents, please note that there have been a couple of updates to the Year 6 – Term 3 Overview letter that was emailed home last week.

The Year 7 testing date, which was listed as Thursday 15 September, has been moved to Friday 28 October as per your Save the Date fliers.

Orientation Day for Year 7 2017 is Friday 21 October.  If you have any questions, please contact the College.

Arts for Africa Showcase

In just over two weeks the College is bringing together some of our talented Performing Arts students to raise funds to educate and feed vulnerable children in Kantolomba Village.

Book now to be entertained by the Swan Christian College Drum Corp, Jazz Band, Junior and Senior choirs, and various ensembles. The night promises to be an enjoyable one so bring your family and friends along to help us raise money for this very worthy cause. If you would like to know more about the project, please go to the Swanmissions website - The Kantolomba Project

The showcase is being held in the Maali Mia Theatre on Wednesday 10 August from 7:00-8:30pm. Adults $10.00 / Students $6.00

Tickets can be purchased at https://www.trybooking.com/209335. We hope to see you there!

Last Friday, Mrs Bejr’s Year 4 class paired up for the first time with their new buddies in Mrs Robert’s Kindergarten class.

The students enjoyed getting to know their new friends. Over the term the Buddy Classes will help to integrate the teaching of important personal and social skills, complementing our Bucket Filler’s health program, to develop an even stronger sense of community and peer support within the Junior School.

Kindy B had so much fun listening to their Year 4 mentors read stories, help with puzzles and play chasey in the playground. It is wonderful to see them all developing new relationships and greeting each other not only during buddy time but also at other times throughout the school day.

Mrs S Roberts
Kindergarten Teacher

The Year 12 Leadership Team is holding a Neon Disco for Middle School students on Friday 19 August from 4:30-7:30pm in the Swan Centre.

The night will be a fun Middle School social evening and a fundraiser for Swanmissions. There will be a dance floor with DJ and party lights and three blow up inflatables, including an obstacle course, gladiator ring and soccer arena. Plenty of staff and Year 12 students have been organised to supervise the event, and there will be some supervision for those who aren’t able to go home after school.

Admission tickets for the Disco are $5.00 if purchased before the night on Trybooking https://www.trybooking.com/212839 or $6:00 at the door, and include entry, the inflatables, fairy floss and a glow stick.  A sausage sizzle and juice box is available for $2.00, for catering purposes we would prefer that these are purchased through the Trybooking link with Admission. There will be student photographers taking candid shots on the night and we will make these photos available to parents for download. Instructions for download will be sent home after the photos have been checked and uploaded.

The Leadership team has done a fantastic job planning the Disco, making sure they have covered all the bases so the students who attend have a fun and memorable social evening.

Finish time is at 7:30pm, and we would appreciate students being picked up promptly. If you have any questions about the event, please email swanevents@scea.wa.edu.au. 

Last week the Year 2 classes had a visit from members of the Police Force.

The police talked about what they do during their busy days and students were able to explore a police vehicle. The Year 2 students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were very eager to ask questions.

We would like to say a big thank you to Sergeant Conder and Senior Constable Turner for volunteering their time.

Mrs Moreen van Schalkwyk
Year 2 Teacher

“The home of the People shall also be the home of Reason”!
 

Black Swan State Theatre Company in collaboration with the National Theatre of China performed The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

On Saturday 6 August, Senior School ATAR Drama students attended this intercultural and artistically groundbreaking interpretation of 1944 Brechtian classic. The work was reinterpreted for modern audiences and relates Brecht’s narrative to that of an old Chinese fable of The Chalk Circle. The play was designed in a Beijing Opera style and uses over 60 masks and authentic Chinese costumes, staging and properties. The play was directed by Dr Wang Xiaoying (through interpreters) and brought together both Chinese and Australian designers, actors and musicians.

The story follows a young girl, Grusha, who saves an infant from abandonment, and who sacrifices a great deal to ensure the child’s safety. The biological mother wants her child returned to her and Grusha must convince Azdak, the newly appointed judge that she is and has been the child’s real mother.

The play deals with themes and issues of war, corruption, ownership, justice, equity, power, love and innocence.

Steve Turner, one of the stars of the show, and a personal friend, kindly meet with the students to discuss the production after the performance.

Mrs Jane Hille Lee
Drama Teacher

The Junior School held our annual Scholastic Book Fair during Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 3.

Thank you to all who came to look, see and buy from our Book Fair this year. Also, thank you to the families who made donations in lieu of purchasing books.

It was great to see such enthusiasm from the students when choosing books and also the novelty stationery items. Thanks to your generosity, our commission was $1255.00, which will go towards extra resources for the Library and Literacy in the Junior School.

Mrs J Barnsley
Library Teacher

Book Week activities will be held in Week 6 of Term 3, 22 August to 26 August.  

The Book Week theme this year is Australia! Story Country.

Our dress up parade will be held on Wednesday 24 August and we would love the students to dress up as something related to the theme, using ideas either from an Australian book, poem or story written by an Australian author.  So, get your thinking caps on and start planning!  A sausage sizzle will also be available to order.  Information will be sent home shortly.

Mrs J Barnsley
Library Teacher

All schools across Australia are required to complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on school students with a disability.

For the purposes of the Collection, the ‘categories of disability’ are deemed as; cognitive (including learning difficulties), sensory, physical, social and emotional. The Collection aims to provide education authorities with a clear picture of; the number of students with additional needs in schools, the adjustments they require to participate in education on the same basis as other students, and where known, the student’s type (category) of disability.

Once the data has been collected it is de-identified. No personal identification details (name, date of birth) are included. Statistical information is then forwarded to the relevant educational authorities to inform policy development and future planning to better equip schools and education authorities/sectors to support students with disability and additional learning needs.

Further information on the national data collection can be found via the link below.

https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/attachment_k_-_updated_parent-carer_fact_sheet.pdf

If you do not want your child’s statistical data included in the Collection, please download and sign this form and return it to the College Reception or Student Services by August 29, 2016. If you do not return the attached form, you are authorising that your child’s information (not their name or school) can be included in the data collection.

Year 12 Careers Carousel – Monday August 22 and 29, Period 1 in the Swan Trade Training Centre

The Carousel will have a four option round robin where speakers will be available in separate rooms with 25 minutes to speak and answer student questions. Students can choose two of the four options each week, moving between them at half time in the session. The theory is that they choose the options they are interested in, and ask the speakers questions that are personally relevant to them. 

Skills West Expo is on this weekend. Western Australia’s leading, largest and most attended careers event that enables visitors to explore tertiary and VET course options, find traineeships, apprenticeships and plan new career pathways.

Skills West Expo is free for all visitors to attend and will be held from 10am-4pm, on 12 – 14 August, 2016 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event attracts more than 9,000 students, graduates and career changers across three days.

For more information, go to http://www.skillswestexpo.com.au/

Thank you for supporting Swanmissions. We are happy to announce that so far, we have raised almost $715 with Entertainment Book sales.

There is still time to get involved — purchase the new 2016 | 2017 Entertainment^™ Book or Digital Membership for your smartphone which features over $20,000 worth of valuable up to 50% OFF and 2-for-1 offers for some of the best local restaurants, cafés, attractions, hotel accommodation, travel and more for only $65.

We have only four hard copy Entertainment Books still for sale!

Order online at https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/8330s3 or drop in to Senior School Admin to pick up your book and start saving money.

Teaching is a true calling – a career dedicated to serving others.

Teaching is mostly joyous and at times challenging, but it is always meaningful. SCEA has partnered with Tabor College of Higher Education to establish a teaching campus in Midland that will offer teaching degrees from a Christian perspective. Similar to other Universities, the degrees are fully accredited and HECS-HELP is available to cover tuition fees.

We will offer the following degree courses:

• Bachelor of Education (Primary)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary) – Available from 2018
• Master of Teaching (Primary)
• Master of Teaching (Secondary) – Available from 2018
• Master of Education (Online)

If your child or you are interested in becoming a teacher, we invite you to attend an information evening for the courses at our teaching campus (1 Padbury Terrace in Midland) on Thursday 25th August at 7pm.

Find us on Facebook for information, or contact us on admin@scea.institute or 9274 6411 to RSVP for the information night.

Registration is now open for Term 4 Swanconnect courses.

The 5-week courses in Woodwork and Metalwork will give participants basic and advanced skills that can be used at home to repair, fabricate or create pieces with the assistance of our qualified teaching staff.

If you would like to enrol for one of the Open and Introductory Woodwork or Metalwork courses for Term 4, please go to the Swanconnect website - http://www.swan.wa.edu.au/swan-connect/

For more information about our courses, please contact Mr Matthew King at the College.