ELTHAM College Family News 7 March 2025

Monday 10 March

LABOUR DAY Public Holiday

Wednesday 12 – 14 March

NAPLAN

Monday 17 March

Junior School Assembly 

Thursday 20 March

Regional Swimming @ Watermarc

Friday 21 March

Harmony Day

Monday 24 March

Junior School Assembly 

House Music Rehearsals 

House Music Performance 

Friday 28 March

Junior School House Cross Country & Picnic

Friday 4 April

Term 1 Concludes

Friday 18 April 

Good Friday 

Monday 21 April 

Easter Monday 

For a complete list of College activities take a look at the calendar on mE.

Events and dates may be subject to change.

Thursday 20 February – Monday 24 March 

House Music Rehearsals 7 – 12

Monday 10 March 

LABOUR DAY Public Holiday

Tuesday 11 March – Thursday 13 March

NAPLAN

Thursday 13 March

Year 10 Morrisby Careers Testing 

Friday 14 March

Year 11 Geography Field Trip

Monday 17 March – Tuesday 18 March

NAPLAN make up

Wednesday 19 March

Parent Information Session – Year 10 Morrisby Careers Testing, 7.30pm

Friday 21 March 

Year 7 Immunisation Session 2025

Tuesday 25 March 

Whole Year 9 Cohort in the City

Wednesday 26 March – Friday 28 March

Year 10 Retreat

Wednesday 26 March

ELTHAM In Action school tours

Thursday 27 March

Year 5 – 12 Assembly (House Music Announcement)

Thursday 3 April 

Year 12 Dinner #1 Social/Pizza Night

Friday 4 April 

Last Day of Term 1 

Friday 4 April – Sunday 6 April 

Year 9 –12 College Musical Production – Retreat Rehearsal

Tuesday 8 April – Thursday 17 April 

Overland Hike 

Friday 18 April

Good Friday 

Monday 21 April 

Easter Monday 

For a complete list of College activities take a look at the calendar on mE.

Events and dates may be subject to change.

On Tuesday 25 February we had our ELTHAM College House Athletics day at Tom Kelly Athletics Track in Doncaster. It was exciting to see everyone giving it a go in their events and contribute to a great day. There were several highlights from the day:

Congratulations to Emily for winning the ELTHAM College Gift, who was closely followed by Leo and Haoqi.

We also had a number of College records broken:

• Maddy now holds the 100-metre record at 12.94 seconds, 200 metre record at 27.12 seconds and the long jump record with 4.83 metres, all in the U17’s Girls division.
• Grace broke the U15 discus record with a throw of 19.7 metres.
• Ben now holds the high jump record with an incredible jump of 1.91 metres for the U18s.

The College also re-introduced Age Group Champions in 2025. Congratulations to the following students:

• U13 Boys - Bailey (74 points)
• U13 Girls - Olivia (119 points)
• U14 Boys - Haoqi (94 points)
• U14 Girls - Samantha and Aurelia (88 points)
• U15 Boys - James (93 Points)
• U15 Girls - Grace (103 points)
• U16 Boys - Austin (78 points)
• U16 Girls - Lily (86 points)
• U17 Boys - Baylan (88 points)
• U17 Girls - Mietta (94 points)
• U18 Boys - Aiden (92 points)
• U18 Girls - Charlotte (98 points)

Whilst our record breakers and age group champions displayed incredible athletic feats, others displayed their immense House spirit by competing in lots of events, and giving their absolute best. Congratulation to Evelyn House who were the overall winners of the 2025 House Athletics Carnival.

EISM Swimming

On Tuesday 4 March 45 students represented ELTHAM College at the EISM Division 2 Swimming, at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

As a team we placed in a total of 22 races and finished 4th overall on the day. Special mentions to the following students/teams who placed in more than one race: Alanah, Clare, Mietta, Abbey, James, Hayden, as well as the U14 Girls relays, Open Girls Relays and the U15 Boys relays.

We also had two students win events: congratulations to Grace on winning the U15 Girls 50m Freestyle and Parker on winning the U15 Boys Backstroke.

Well done to all those who competed and we look forward to improving further into 2026.

Brent Wallace​​​​
Sports Coordinator

Year 1 students have been enjoying a variety of number shape activities. They have looking at what makes a number, how we can add numbers together to make a larger number and how they can be represented on a number line. At the same time, we have studying the triangle and looking at the properties of the shape. The students have enjoyed playing a variety of number games including Addition Connect 4 and Number Bingo and competing various creative tasks such as Place Value Robots and triangle pictures.

Melanie Campbell
Junior School Teacher

What a great start to the year! The art classes have been enjoying experimenting with their materials. The Preps have represented their houses which they decorated with paint pens. The Years 1 and 2 groups have been exploring line and colour on diffusing paper in their sun pictures. Years 3 and 4 have observed natural patterns and shapes and used pastels to paint these images. Finally, Years 5 and 6 have used watercolours to paint their favourite places.

Melissa Klein
Junior School Teacher

The LifeWork Career Tools website is a rich resource offered to ELTHAM College students and families. 

Our aim is to provide you with all the latest information that will help you make decisions about your future career and your life beyond school.

You can use this site to locate University, TAFE and any other type of course across Australia, get information about the VCE, and much more. 

The Calendar resource is regularly updated with careers and pathways events, take a look! There is also a weekly Careers newsletter which is regularly updated.

Feel free to drop into the LifeWork Centre if you have any questions.

Margie Jordan​​​​
Lifework Centre Coordinator

In great news the College now has some vacancies available for students from Years 7 – 12 at the 2025 Falls Creek Snow Camp (13 – 18 July). If you are interested, please contact Guy Mitchell. More information including costs can be found on mE.

The package includes:

• Return coach transfers from ELTHAM College to Falls Creek.
• Five nights’ accommodation at Halleys Ski Lodge.
• Five hearty breakfasts.
• Four freshly prepared lunches (Mon – Thurs).
• Five evening meals, including a main and dessert.
• Five-day unlimited lift passes are valid from 1.00pm on the day of arrival (Sunday).
• Five group lessons for students.
• Five-day ski or board hire, including helmets (if needed).
• Night ski ticket for Wednesday evening.

Guy Mitchell
Outdoor Education

The RYDA program was a formative experience for me and my peers. My group started the day off with a heated debate on which licensed group is the safest on the road: L’s, P’s or full licensed drivers. The Learners rose victorious. 

The next step on our road safety journey was discovering how distracting our passengers can be. We participated in various scenarios where we were drivers or passengers and had conversations with them using different emotions. After a short break, we jumped back into a 'get to know yourself 'quiz. We learned more about our weaknesses and how they may affect us on the road. Later in the day, we went outside and viewed stopping distances at difference speeds. This workshop showed us just how lethal speeding can be. The most informational part of the day was hearing from Jacob, a crash survivor. He bravely came in to share his story, and how much it has affected him, and to this day he is pushing for safer roads for everyone. This experience was very beneficial, especially for people starting their driving journey. 

This article was written by Year 11 students Emily, Supriya and Natalie.

On Thursday 27 February, all Year 11 and 12 students went on a bus to Box Hill Institute to take part in the Rotary Young Drivers Awareness Program. This program is designed to educate young drivers and students about safety on the road. Students participated in interactive workshops covering topics about road risk management, safe decision-making and distraction awareness. We also heard personal stories of crash survivors and first responders, reinforcing the importance of driving responsibly. The RYDA program gave us many skills and ideas to tackle future challenges on the road as well as create a safe environment on the road for passengers, other drivers and ourselves.

This article was written by Year 11 student Lisa Xu.

Nick Milne
Year 11 Coordinator

Year 7 immunisations will be held on Friday 21 March 2025 at ELTHAM College. 

Vaccines:

• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) single injection
• Diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough (pertussis) single injection

Parents are required to access the link to consent or deny the vaccines.  It is important that a response either way is received via this Consent link.

A confirmation email will be sent on completion of the form, you can log back in and change consent at a later date if required. Thank you to the families who have already responded, we have just a few to go.

Expiry date for consent link: Tuesday 18 March 2025 (late consent will not be accepted after this date).

Stacey Morris and Alicia Lands
Student Services

Students interested in applying for a place in this program must complete the application form and submit a video answer to the following questions:

• Name & Year level
• Sport applying for and other sports played.
• Team played for and level of competition. 
• What do you know about the program?
• What do you hope to gain from your involvement in the program?
• Which EISM teams/ carnivals did you participate in? (Or during Year 6, which teams and carnivals did you participate in?)
• Any other relevant information you wish to share.

This video must be saved in the students' OneDrive folders and shared with Brent Wallace via email.

Brent Wallace​​​​
Sports Coordinator

Congratulations to our District Swimming team of 30 Junior School students on coming a very close 2nd at the District Swimming Championships at Watermarc on Friday 28 February. This event was hosted by ELTHAM College and it was awesome to have a number of our Senior School students and College sports coaches helping out on the day. 

• Felix 
• Oscar
• Noah
• Natasha 
• Sophia 
• Mason 
• Mia 
• Jessica 
• Ariana 
• Jake 
• Flynn
• Jonty
• Jamie
• Jack
• Aidan
• Felix
• Henry 

Final Results

• Eltham North – 308
• ELTHAM College – 305
• Eltham East - 259
• St. Thomas – 234
• Eltham PS – 206
• Research – 152
• OLHC – 34

Division Swimming Superstars

Congratulations to all 18 Students in the Junior School who competed at the Division Swimming Championships on Wednesday at the Northcote Outdoor Pool. In glorious sunny conditions, our students performed very well with six students now progressing to the next stage at Regional level on Thursday 20 March.

Final Results

• Boys 10yo Freestyle Felix 1st
• Boys 10yo Backstroke Oscar 1st 
• Boys 10yo Breaststroke Felix 1st 
• Boys 11yo Breaststroke Noah 1st 
• Girls 10yo Butterfly Natasha 4th
• Girls 11yo Butterfly Sophia 2nd
• Boys 11yo Butterfly Noah 2nd
• Boys 12yo Butterfly Mason 3rd
• Girls 10yo Freestyle Relay Natasha 4th
• Girls 10yo Freestyle Jessica, Ariana, Mia 4th
• Boys 10yo Freestyle Relay Felix, Jake, Flynn, Oscar 2nd
• Boys 11yo Freestyle Relay Jack, Jonty, Jamie and Noah 2nd
• Boys 12yo Freestyle Relay Mason, Aidan, Felix, Henry 4th
• Boys Open Medley Relay Alistair, Felix, Noah, Mason 4th

Anthony Panou
Junior School PE, House & Sport Coordinator

Dear Parents, please read ahead if you are interested in entering your child in the Victorian Interschools Snowsports Championships. ELTHAM College enters a team in the annual event at Mt. Buller during the last week of August, the main entrants have been traditionally from Year 7-12 although Junior years students can compete. In 2025 the Junior years divisions will compete on Monday 18 August through to Wednesday 20 August. Senior year students compete across 2 days from Wednesday August 20 to Sunday August 24 depending on which division they are in. Parents/guardians of all students do need to attend the event and supervise their own children, Eltham College will have a staff liaison on the mountain for support from Wednesday onwards. Reach out if you need advice on accommodations options and be aware that the mountain gets booked up early. Finally, Senior School students will need to be at an advanced level of skiing and/or snowboarding and be prepared to attend some dryland training in the lead up to the competition.

Please read the information in the links below and if interested please email pcifone@elthamcollege.vic.edu.au for more information.

• Event information: https://www.interschools.com.au/home-victoria/
• Important Documents: https://www.interschools.com.au/home-victoria/vic-policies_important-documents/ 

Paul Cifone
Snowsports Coordinator

Five simple actions to help traffic flow and improve safety at pick-up time:

• Avoid arriving early – the traffic simply can’t flow until students are dismissed from class.
• Reduce your speed, drive predictably, and use the marked zones. Please avoid phone distractions.
• Move forward in the pick-up zones so that cars behind you can get off the main roads. Be mindful of others.
• Exercise patience and respect your community – poor driver behaviour is not tolerated.
• Remember the traffic returns to regular flow shortly after dismissal.

Designated drop-off and pick-up zones for 2025

Junior School: For drop-off, all Junior School students may be dropped off at the Junior School gate from 8.20am. For pick-up, all Junior School students are to be picked up at the Junior School gate or carpark. Please write your child’s name clearly in thick black marker on an A4 sheet displayed in the windscreen to drive through the pickup area.

Senior School: The drop-off/pick-up zone you will use is determined by the year level of your youngest child who attends the Senior School.

• Year 7 – 9 students: Great Southern Road zone – please enter the College site via the entrance on Bells Hill Road, just past the ELC.
• Year 10 – 12 students: Sports Centre car park zone – please enter via the main College entrance gate.

The Pavilion Carpark (next to the bus bay and oval) is NOT a pick-up zone. Using the Pavilion Carpark as a pick-up point poses a significant safety risk to students who must cross the bus bay driveway to reach their parents’ vehicles. During peak periods, buses travel in both directions and must negotiate a sharp turn off a major road while yielding to parents’ cars and young pedestrians. Please do not arrange to pick your child up from the Pavilion.  

Kaz Docking​​​​
Risk and Compliance Manager

A Novel Bunch gathered at our first book club for 2025 to discuss Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.

The short novella was elegantly written with meaning and purpose, and unveiled the horrors and atrocities of the Magdalene Laundries. The story intentionally focuses on the 'small things' in life and routine, it is often the small things that make the biggest difference.

Our next book club is Monday 31 March 7.30pm in the Senior School Library, we are we are reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. New members are always welcome.
A Novel Bunch is the ELTHAM community book club open to parents, carers and staff from every year level. Please get in touch and RSVP to ecca@elthamcollege.vic.edu.au.

Don't forget to visit the A Novel Bunch Book Tree at Swipers Gully. Leave a book, take a book or sit, relax and read a book – there are many great selections to choose from.

• Monday 31 March
• Monday 12 May
• Monday 28 July
• Monday 1 September
• Monday 20 October
• Monday 1 December

Felicia and Jacqui 
A Novel Bunch Coordinators