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Achieving a positive future
In this issue
ashdale
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Ashdale Secondary College Independent Public School
Issue 6, September 2011
Buildings going up!
Page 3
Book Week
Page 4
Lightning Carnival
Page 8
Languages Week
Page 11

Contacts
College Phone
9302 7100
Absentee Email
absentee.ashdale.sc@
det.wa.edu.au
Absentee Phone Line
9302 7150
(leave voice message)
Absentee SMS Messaging
0409 686 299
(receives SMS messages only)
Administration
Principal
Carol Strauss
Deputy Principals
Steve Beaton
Melesha Sands
Student Services Manager
Tony Granich
Important Dates
First Day of Term 4, 2011
Tuesday, 18th October
School Photos
Wednesday, 26th October
CHOGM Public Holiday
Friday, 28th October
Next P&C Meeting
Tuesday, 1st November
7.00pm
College Boardroom
Year 8 Camp
Wed 23rd - Fri 25th November
2
Scho
Build

ols and Parents working together
Parents play a vital role in education. When parents are engaged and involved, everyone, students and families,
teachers, schools and communities benefit. Our schools become increasingly better and more positive places to
teach, learn and grow.
Study after study shows that student learning and achievement improves when parents play an active role in their
children’s education and that good schools become better when parents are involved.
Parents play a vital role in the development and education of their children. Parents and families, with the support
of their school and community, have the primary responsibility for the development of their children’s character. In
addition, research clearly indicates that good schools become better schools when they are strongly connected with
parents as part of the learning community.
I would very much like to have our learning community develop and support a Parent Engagement Program. The
vision for this program would be to, in part, acknowledge the importance of parents as valued partners and active
participants in their children’s education.
It is important that all partners (parents, teachers and students) acknowledge the positive impact of parent
engagement on student achievement. At Ashdale SC I want students to be supported and inspired to learn in a
culture of high expectations in which parents:
• are welcomed, respected and valued by the College community as partners in their children’s learning and
development;
• have opportunities to be involved and also a range of choices about how to be involved in the educational
community to support student success;
• are engaged through ongoing communication and dialogue with other educational partners to support a positive
learning environment at home and at school;
• are supported with the information and tools necessary to participate in school life.
We all know that parents not only play an important role within the school community, but that they also have a
significant impact on their children’s education through the attitudes they help to shape and the direct support they
provide to their children. Parents have a primary influence on their children’s attitudes toward school, their learning
and their future success. Research suggests that positive parental aspirations and expectations for their children’s
educational achievement has a strong relationship to their children’s actual success. The greater the support the
family provide, the more likely their child is to achieve and do well at school.
With this thinking in mind, I hope that we will be able to grow and develop a culture of real partnership between our
College and you as our parents. This genuine partnership between us could well result in improved student achievement,
reduced absenteeism, positive student behaviour and increased confidence among parents in their children’s schooling.
This in turn will impact on our society as we try to develop and sustain a cohesive and active community.
ings on the up and up!
Carol Strauss, Principal
At this stage of our building program, things are proceeding extremely well and are on time. The completion of many
of the Stage 2 buildings is scheduled for late December so they will be ready for the start of the new school year.
In addition during Term 4, some changes will be made to our existing building so your children may experience
small timetable changes. However, we will be working to minimise the impact of any changes on their educational
program. I believe that we can always use these opportunities as a chance to provide an enhanced program for
everyone.
We will be able to celebrate the completion of our amazing College early in the new year. Can I take this opportunity
to thank you for your support during this building program. it has been a real challenge particularly since the fire
earlier this year, however everyone has worked together to maintain a terrific learning environment despite the
difficulties it has presented. Thank you to all concerned.
3

4
One world, many stories
During August Ashdale Secondary College celebrated National Book Week!
Students and staff went head to head in the Great Book Week Debate which posed the question, “Are books still
relevant in the digital era?” Staff and students eagerly filed into the library to see the lively debate which not only
relied on verbal arguments but also some old-fashioned drama.
The digital team, ably lead by Science teacher Matthew Titmanis, put up a good fight but it wasn’t strong enough
to defeat English teacher SaraJane Morgan’s book-loving group of students. It was certainly reassuring to see
the excited audience reaction to the Book team winning!
The week also saw our inaugural Book Week Character Day where
staff and students were invited to come dressed as their favourite
book character. Our classrooms came alive with an assortment
of colourful characters such as Mad Hatters, Rainbow Magic
fairies and classic Disney Princesses. Staff joined in the fun with
Hannibal Lecter, Sherlock Holmes and Batman, among others,
roaming the corridors.
Janelle Mittonette, HOLA English
Our classrooms came
alive with an assortment
of colourful characters
Prizes were awarded to the Best Dressed Students and Staff member, based on student voting:
Year 8 – Claudia Fizari
Year 9 – Jung Kim
Year 10 – LyndallPengelly
Staff – Mr Adam Rains
Students raised funds for The National Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, but also raised awareness of the
wonderful role reading and stories play in our lives.
A huge thank you must go to the staff who assisted with the activities during Book Week, and also to all staff and
students who participated so whole-heartedly in a great week.

Library
Student Achievements
6
Mad Hatters Tea Party!
To celebrate Book Week 2011 the Library this year
hosted a Madhatter’s Tea Party. The Tea Party was
hosted by Mr Farrelly and Mrs Nelligan who, in
keeping with the theme, dressed as the Madhatter
and Alice. The guests included those students who
regularly use the library every Monday, Thursday and
Friday at lunchtime, and those staff who run clubs
and societies out of the Library at lunchtime, Ms April
Conway and Mrs Lynn Makin. The definite highlight
of the Tea Party were Mrs Nelligan’s homemade
sausage rolls which were a hit with everyone who
attended.
Ashdale Modelling Group
Congratulations to Sam Wood who was the first member of the Ashdale
Modelling Group to complete a model aircraft. In breakneck speed he
assembled and finished his model of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. The P-40
was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter that first flew
in 1938. It was used by 28 Allied nations, including Australia and New
Zealand during World War II, and remained in front line service until 1945. It
was the third most produced American fighter of World War II. By November
1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.
The Ashdale Modelling Group meets in the library at lunchtime every
Tuesday.
Frank Farrelly, Teacher Librarian
Playing for the State
One of our very talented Year 8 students, Jayden Ngamanu, has been
selected to play for the Western Australian State Touch Rugby Team. He will
be heading to Coffs Harbour in NSW to compete in the National Schools
Championships from 22 – 29 October.
Jayden started playing when he was 11 and has been the youngest player two
years running. This year he is enjoying his role as a member of the leadership
group. He plays twice a week for Perth Brothers Touch Association in 15’s
and for Wanneroo Lions Touch Club in the Open Men’s competition. Jayden’s
whole family plays Touch Rugby and his mum was instrumental in starting
him in the game. Jayden thinks the best thing about the sport is that it’s fun
and he gets to play with his mates.
National History Challenge Finalist
Congratulations to Andrea Singeorzan whose entry into this year’s National
History Challenge has been selected to progress through to National
Judging in Adelaide in October.
Andrea’s entry was entitled “The Equal Pay Decision – A Defining Moment
in Australian History”, and was a detailed investigation into the long
battle that Australian women fought to win equal pay with Australian men.
Andrea’s entry was placed in the top three in entries across the state and
was a great achievement considering that this is the first year that a student
from Ashdale Secondary College has entered this prestigious competition.

Our Teachers Go National!
Expanding Learning Horizons (ELH) is the premier professional
development conference tailored to challenge, inspire and
motivate Principals, Assistant Principals, Heads of Curriculum,
Teachers and Professional Development Coordinators.
Now in its 18th year, ELH has established itself as the leading
education technology conference in the Southern Hemisphere.
It continues to push the boundaries and explore ideas across
an exciting range of leading Keynotes, Critical Conversations and
hands on workshops.
This year Chantal Simpson and Daniel McCullen were invited
to host a discovery session centred around the benefits of
challenge based learning titled “Grand Designs in Education”.
The session was well received by the national audience and
hopefully it inspired many teachers to further enhance teaching
and learning with technology in the classroom.
Primary School Reading Visits
During Term 3 all Year 9 students have been visiting Ashdale
Primary School during their English classes for one period per
week. Students in Kindy, Pre-Primary and Year 1 have been
hosting our students and assisting them in the creation of
original picture books.
Through conversation, play and reading the Year 9 students have
been formulating ideas for their picture books, which will be
taken back to their buddy students upon completion and read
aloud. Students from both schools have embraced the term long
program and look forward to the visit each week. Not only has
it assisted with their work, but it has also helped to develop the
maturity and character of our Year 9 cohort.
We are all looking forward to seeing the completed picture books.
Janelle Mittonette, HOLA English
Literacy Week Display
Literacy week was celebrated by placing four display boards in
the area outside Woolworths at Kingsway City Shopping Centre.
The student’s work on display was a variety of samples from
different learning areas including Society & Environment, Science
and Art. Reportedly, we had a large number of passers by stop
and take great interest in the fantastic work that our students
are completing.
Staff Achievements
English & Literacy
7
11

8
Lightning Carnival
Jamie Long, HOLA Health & Physical Education
The Year 8 students had their first experience in representing Ashdale Secondary College in our regional winter lightning
carnival this term. Ashdale had teams in girls and boys Soccer, boys Basketball, girls Netball and Australian Rules. It was
pleasing to see the year eights well organised and enthusiastic on the day, with high levels of motivation and participation.
Although the focus of the day is on participation and social interaction with students from surrounding schools, Ashdale
had some great results on the day, particularly with the boys Basketball and Girls netball teams finishing in top 3 teams on
the day. Thank you to all the staff that assisted in the smooth running of the day.
The Colleges school sporting teams have been busy competing in the School Sport WA competitions. The Year 8/9 girls
and boys basketball teams had a day of competition in their region carnival. There was some tough competition with
some considerably larger opponents and well drilled teams. The girls finished second with the boys reaching fourth out of
eight teams, both results a real credit to each teams dedication and fighting spirit. The junior girls and boys soccer teams
reached the knockout finals stage. Both teams played against some very tough competition with the boys bowing out in
their first final and the girls making through to the second round before eventually getting knocked out by Perth Modern.
I would like to thank and congratulate all the students who showed a high level of commitment and passion in representing
the College in such a positive and professional way. Also a big thank you to the staff who gave up their time after school to
coach all our sporting teams.

the students performed amazingly
with professional enthusiasm and
etiquette
P&C Funding is a Huge Plus!
The P&C have enjoyed the opportunity to approve various funding
submissions presented by staff at the last few meetings. Some of
the submissions have included: an online encyclopaedia, light box,
digital piano, garden games, data projector, dvd player, television,
robotic builder sets, book week prizes, and aquaponics. Thank you
to all members of the school community who have supported our
fund raising throughout the year, which has enabled the purchase
of these resources.
The P&C meetings are a fantastic way of remaining informed about what is happening
in the school. At the last meeting we heard about the building program, future planning
for next year and beyond as well as the success of ‘Science week’, ‘Book week’ and
‘Language week’.
The P&C meetings are held twice per term with the next meeting scheduled for 7pm
on Tuesday 1st November. New members are welcome.
Melissa Feist
P&C President
P&C News
9

Society & Environment
Autism Extension
10
ASX Stock Market Game
All Year 10 students this term have been competing in a national competition in
conjunction with the Australian Stock Exchange. Students were each given $50 000 to
play the stockmarket. Students can research different businesses, look at the company
profile and then decide if they want to purchase shares. There are both national and state
prizes up for grabs.
The Year 10’s have been playing the stock market this term. There has been stiff
competition between the students (and staff) seeing who can be the biggest
money-maker with tips and tricks being traded between staff and students. It
has been particularly interesting with the stock market taking many turns over
the course of the last few weeks. Students are all keen to see who will make
the most money within the school and win a prize!
Industrial Revolution
After a successful WAMSE preparation course, the Year 9’s have been learning
about the Industrial Revolution and it’s impact on our lives today. They have
discussed many of the inventions that made life easier as well as the diseases
that spread due to the poor conditions people lived in. The Year 9’s have been
participating in a lot of collaborative work and practising their writing skills by
writing letters to a number of people from the time. The students are about
to start bringing music into the classroom by taking a well known song and
changing the lyrics to focus on an area of development during the Industrial
Revolution.
Production Task
The Year 8’s are working on with their economics course. Students were asked to identify a problem in society
and invent a product to solve the problem. Students are currently in the process of making such products as; a
portable deli, contact lenses that change colour with your mood, a temporary cast to get you out of those tough
situations, dust that makes you instantly fall asleep and hats which allow you to read others minds. They are also
designing an advertising campaign to go with their product to be combined on ‘Market Day’ where their products
will be unveiled to the rest of the school.
The Society & Environment Team
Excursion for AEP Students
It has been another busy term in the Autism Extension
Program. The students have shown greater confidence and
independence through the continuation of their Community
Access Program. It has been wonderful experiencing some of
the great services our community has to offer.
On Friday the 19th of August three of our students Lachlan,
Alex and Dylan along with Mr Granich, Ms Canty and Miss
Conway ventured all the way to Fremantle via train to visit the
Maritime museum. The boys all used their smart riders to tag
on and off the two trains on their journey and made polite
conversation with other passengers.
After our scenic journey to Fremantle we had a short morning
tea in the museums café. At the café we met the students
and staff of South Fremantle Autism Extension Program. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to get to know
some new people and share a laugh or two. The students worked through their self- guided tour admiring all
the different ships, preserved marine animals and displays. After our museum tour the staff and students
walked together to the E-shed markets where the students selected their lunch from a smorgasbord of food court
cuisine, and sat down together to chat over lunch. It was great to see the students demonstrate such wonderful
interpersonal skills and learn so much about the South Fremantle AEP students.

Celebrating Languages
Ciao a tutti!!!
As the year races by students of Italian are becoming more confident in
speaking the Italian language, living like an Italian and some students have
even had a go at making gnocchi.
We have been fortunate to obtain a grant to fund a native speaker program.
The Year 10’s have had Signora Ricci come in to help them practice their
speaking.
Language week saw students working as a team answering quiz questions
about Italy to obtain a pizza reward...congratulations to Mentor group 10.11!!!
Other language week fun included a spaghetti eating race where the whole
school rallied around at lunch time to witness which student would beat
Mr Beaton and Mr Long. Of course the twist ended up being hands behind
backs and no utensils! The deliciously messy race was won by Mr Long who
went home with the prize of, yes you guessed it.....a packet of spaghetti!!
Bravo Signor Long!!!
Simona Castro, Teacher LOTE (Italian)
11

Mixing it up in the Food Studio
Year 8 students continued their rotation through the Technology & Enterprise Learning area with 2 new classes
commencing with Home Economics. The focus of their classes has been simple food preparation skills and basic
nutrition concepts. Part of their investigation of food models that promote healthy eating, students prepared a
healthy family meal, following the principles of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Students enjoyed having
free reign to choose whatever healthy meal they wanted. Many of the recipes were of an exceptionally high
standard, comparable in appearance and taste to any restaurant meal, and
certainly amongst the best meals ever produced by Year 8 students!
Year 9 students have also been using the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
as a reference for producing healthy family meals. Students investigated their
own family food needs and then, following the recommended guidelines,
selected recipes to suit their family. Students trialled the recipes at school
before preparing the meal at home. The general consensus from parents was “lets do it again!”. Students gained
an appreciation for how much planning and effort goes into preparing food for the family for one meal, let alone
an entire week. Most importantly, many felt a sense of satisfaction knowing that they could make a positive
contribution to family life by helping with food preparation.
Year 10 students are currently exploring food from all around the world. They have been researching and
producing food from countries unfamiliar to many. As food can be the bridge across differences, working with
food from other cultures allows our students to develop a sense of respect and tolerance for people different to
themselves. Some students have contributed exotic family recipes, which have been enjoyed just as much as
more popular international foods like Chocolate Mousse, Nasi Goreng, Sukiyaki and Baked Lemon Cheesecake.
Voluntary Contributions and Compulsory Charges
Thank you for payment of the voluntary contribution and charges. To date we have received 72% of total
requested monies and this has enabled all our students to benefit with the purchase of quality resources
and equipment needed for the fantastic educational programs delivered by our committed and enthusiastic
teaching staff. Your continued support is highly valued.
Payment can be made at the front office, by telephone any time during office hours: 8:00am – 4:00pm or for
your convenience via direct payment Bank Details are: Ashdale Secondary College, Commonwealth Bank,
Account No 1990 1762, BSB 06 6040. **Please ensure your child’s name is in the reference field.
If you are facing financial difficulty suitable arrangements to suit your budget can be made by phoning the
Manager Corporate Service, Christine Taylor on 9302 7100.
Office Hours: Monday to Friday 8.00am - 4.00pm
T 08 9302 7100 F 08 9302 7188
75 Westport Parade, Darch WA 6065
www.ashdalesc@det.wa.edu.au
Independent Public School Achieving a Positive Future
Colleen Piano, Teacher Technology & Enterprise
The consensus
from parents was
“Let’s do it again!!”