Science – Local Students Commended for Performance in International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS)
Congratulations to all the Year 7 to 10 students who participated in the University of New South Wales International Science Competition this year. The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) are conducted annually across Australia and in the Asia Pacific region. There are over 2 million entries worldwide.

‘ICAS are excellent independent assessments of the skills that students need in education, the wider community and the workplace of the future,’ said Dr. Peter Knapp, Director of EAA.  ‘All students from Oxley College are to be congratulated on their outstanding efforts.’

We are particularly proud of the accomplishments of those who gained a High Distinction as they were placed in the top 1% of the state.

The following students received a High Distinction:

• Jared Christensen
• Nathan Davies
• Jared Frost
• Thomas Mullaney
• Katrina Winger

Well done!

Heidi Ruhnau
(Head of Science)

At Oxley we strive to create an environment where all students are challenged and encouraged to strive for greater results, be it in the class room, in leadership or on in the sporting arena.

While we believe that our programs cater well for most students, it is also appropriate to open up some opportunities for gifted and talented students, academically, and in other endeavours.

The opening of the Oxley Stadium has enabled us to better cater for the physical development all of our students.  In addition to this, the Oxley College Basketball Academy has been created.  This will be a specialist program, available to talented or elite basketballers.  A selection process has been in place.  Trials have recently been held for students in Years 8-10, who will form the original Academy members.  The trials were conducted by a selection team which included an ex-Victorian Basketball representative player who did not know the players or their basketball playing history.

This initiative will bring together all of the facets needed for the development of the complete athlete.  Student athletes selected for this academy will be immersed in skills training, physical preparation (including weights training), nutritional guidance, sports psychology, character development and ongoing osteopathic consultation.

The Academy will be coordinated by Mr Earl Moore. Skills coaching will be conducted by ex-Melbourne Tigers player Gerard Leonard (currently playing with the Kilsyth Cobras SEABL team) and Mr Moore.  Sport Psychology and nutrition sessions will be run by Ms Marie Farrell.  Osteopathic consultations will be held at the stadium by local Osteopath, Dr Sheree Booth.

We are sure that by providing a comprehensive program using specialists in each facet of the program the student athletes involved will continue to develop their sporting prowess.

Simeon and band visited Oxley College during Chapel last week where they shared and performed to an appreciative senior school audience.  Simeon has had great success in Christian music circles but has also received airtime on Fox FM.  As he spoke, he emphasised that God loves us and wants to be involved in our lives.  God wants what is best for us, but to discover that plan, we have to chose to allow God to get involved in our lives.

This week in The Vine…

• From the Principal
• Devotion - What a trend we have in Jesus
• Senior & Junior School News
• What did you do at school today?
• Sports updates
• Samaritan’s Purse - Operation Christmas Child reminder
• Careers

Congratulations to sisters Taneka and Chelsea Hailes for winning best and fairest in Section 1 for U/13 and U/15 Netball in the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Netball Association!

Download:The Vine - Edition 15 - 2008 (924kb)

Dear Past Students,

We have had a great response and a substantial interest in the Oxley College Reunion scheduled for October 18th 2008, for those who had graduated between 1988 to 1998.  However, this interest has not resulted in sufficient RSVP’s for this event to proceed.  Through feedback received, there are many factors that have perhaps had bearing on this outcome, including many now living interstate and overseas, a busy time of year, many had already made plans, some receiving information rather late etc.

After careful consideration, it has regretfully been decided to cancel this weekend’s event.  We apologise that we were unable to give a greater lead up time to the event, however there were many circumstances that unavoidably delayed the collection of contact details and mailing of invitations.  We certainly would welcome any feedback from you regarding the proposal for an event such as this.

We will look at canvassing ideas and facilitate opportunities for year levels to get together in the future.

We were very much looking forward to hosting this reunion on the school property and meeting with you all.  I have personally informed those who had indicated they would like to attend and each agreed that unless a substantial number of students were to attend for each year level, it would be best to plan an alternative event down the track.

As a part of organising this event, we have managed to contact many past students.  There are still many for whom we do not have contact details.  Please encourage all of your school friends to contact us or they may choose to complete the Past Students Survey at www.oxley.vic.edu.au. The success of reunions depends on our ability to network information.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with information or suggestions. If you are in the area at any time and would like to visit the school and have a tour of the many new facilities, please feel free to give me a call and I would be only too happy to show you around.

Kind regards,

Matt Daly
Development Officer

Oxley College
15 – 49 Old Melbourne Rd.
Chirnside Park  Vic  3116
Ph: 03 9727 9955
Fax: 03 9727 9988
Email: matt.daly@oxley.vic.edu.au

Photo: Pastor Graham Nelson, Principal Mrs Sally Broadley and Mr Tony Smith, MP cutting the ribbon to officially open Oxley Stadium.

On Friday 12th of October 2008, Oxley College held the official opening of their new state of the art sports stadium – Oxley Stadium. The stadium was opened by Mr Tony Smith, Federal Member for Casey and Shadow Minister for Education.

“Featuring 5 competition sized basketball courts, a fully equipped fitness centre, a 300 seat function room, change rooms to accommodate 120, class rooms and a sports café, Oxley stadium is a fantastic new facility for the school and also the wider community,” said school Principal, Mrs Sally Broadley.

“This is a great, great example of a school and a school community taking hold of its own destiny,” said Tony Smith.  The stadium was built without any funding from external sources.

During the design and construction of this new facility a lot of thought was given to environmental impact and cost savings through recycling, reduced power consumption and water savings.

The exterior shell of the stadium, a recycled factory building, purchased from Arlec on the opposite side of Maroondah Highway, not only saved the school money on design and engineering but also minimized the need for expensive new building materials.

The lighting system, designed especially for the stadium provides 50% power savings through intelligent daylight harvesting and carefully calculated skylight paneling that provides the maximum amount of natural light while reducing the maximum amount heat from sunlight.  Oxley Stadium is the first fully commissioned facility of its kind in Australia.

General lighting throughout the stadium is automatic, with sensors turning lights on and off.

Oxley appreciates the need to capture and reuse it’s valuable water resources.  The water from the large catchment area of the stadium roof is distributed to a newly built retarding basin, which provides year round watering for the Colleges vast grounds and sports ovals.

Amongst these environment friendly measures is other technology that makes this stadium state of the art.  The flooring used for the court floors is the same used by the
Australian Institute of Sport.  The floor provides anti shock resistance, providing players with 41% shock reduction.

The stadium is now used as a training base for the Saints and Hawks basketball teams and hosts Monday and Wednesday night and Saturday competition as part of the Kilsyth Basketball Association network.

This week in The Vine…

• From the Principal - Fiddler on the Roof
• Devotion - Work in progress
• Senior & Junior School News
• What did you do at school today?
• Book week- 18th - 22nd August
• Musical Soiree Evenings 20th - 21st August
• Resource Centre Book Fair
• Careers
• Sports Report - EISM update

Download:The Vine - Edition 12 - 2008 (584kb)

Oxley College has named a squad of 135 in preparation for the EISM Cross Country Championship, which will be held during term three. The squad will be training over the next three months in preparation to achieve their team goal at the championship.

Mr Michael Bond has been named as a coach for the Oxley College boy’s and girl’s cross country program. Bond was most recently the Head Coach at Homewood Middle School in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I’m really excited to be here and to have an influence in developing a cross country tradition at Oxley College,” Bond said. “I think the student-athletes at Oxley College are great and I look forward to leading this program in its new direction.”

“We have named a large squad in preparation for the Championship. I feel that this squad has the potential to achieve some great results and we are looking forward to being extremely competitive at this years Championship.”

Prior to coming to Oxley, Mr. Bond spent one season at Homewood and two seasons at Troy University as a Graduate Assistant Coach with its NCAA Division I Track & Field and Cross Country program, where he helped lead the men’s team to an Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in 2004 and 2005.

Mr. Bond has qualified for two Olympic Trials and was ranked as Australia’s fastest 1000m runner last year. He has also been ranked in the top 30 in Australia in the 800m and 1500m during the past five years. While at Troy University, he was an NCAA Conference Champion and All-Academic honoree in the 800 and 1500 meters and was All-Conference in the 4×400m relay and cross country.

Congratulations! All cast and crew deserve our heartiest congratulations upon highly successful performances of Fiddler on the Roof!  Letters and comments are flooding in from the school community and from the public who had the opportunity to view the production, commenting on how professional and entertaining they found the show.

“From the moment of our arrival and the friendly students guiding our car in to the car parking area, to the final curtain, and our once again, safely guided exit from the theatre, the whole experience was incredible.”

“Having attended a professional presentation of this production, starring the one and only ‘Topol’, I can say without hesitation, that what we witnessed last Friday was simply one of the most enjoyable shows of my life. Equal to anything!”

“We enjoyed the productions enormously. The cast of students did an outstanding job and deserve high praise.”

“It was a brilliant presentation - the acting, the music, the props, the sound and lighting all combined to make a fabulous show… I realise that a great deal of work goes into a production like that with many people giving sacrificially of their time and energy. The result was a stunning success.”

“I must admit my friend and my self thoroughly enjoyed the whole of the program and thought it surely was worthy of great praise. It was very professionally performed by all the students and it seemed that each one was suited to the part they played in it, even to the costumes they wore.”

“Fantastic!”

“The music, singing and dancing was so good it gave us goose bumps.”

This week in The Vine…

• From the Principal
• Devotion - Derek Redmond’s Father
• Senior & Junior School News
• Pick Up & Drop Off in Billanook Way
• Musical Soiree Evenings 20th - 2st August
• Resource Centre Book Fair
• Careers - ICT & Careers Expo
• Sports Report
• 2008 Shoe Box Appeal

Congratulations  to the many students who were selected to represent Victoria in the National Christian School Basketball Championships.  Also to Gabrielle Blanksby for achieving ‘honors with distinction’ in Oscar Level in Latin American Dance and to Zac Bradley who has been selected as a member of the Australian contingent to the 10th Nippon Agoonoree (an international Jamboree for Scouts and Guides with special needs).

Download: The Vine - Edition 11 - 2008 (1mb)

This week in The Vine…

• Principals Report - Parent investment in education
• Devotion - Amazing generosity again!
• Lost property
• MS Read-a-thon
• VCE Music Solo Performance  Recital - June 24
• Careers

Congratulations  to Taneka, Rebecca, Chelsea H and Chelsea D for fantastic results in the Glenbrae Equestrian Centre - Showjumping Day.  Your stellar effort saw Oxley placed third, a fantastic result against ‘equestrian schools’ with larger numbers of competitors.  Well done girls!

Download: The Vine - Edition 8 - 2008 (1.6mb)

Students from Oxley College have dug deep in an appeal to raise funds for those who have been traumatized by the cyclone in Burma (Myanmar) and the earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.

The response from the school community has been incredibly generous. In only one week students and families have raised $15,926.  With stories such as these repeated throughout the school: John Zhu in Grade 5 played his violin at Chirnside Park shopping centre and raised $112.20 which he donated. One family with two children, one in Prep and the other in Grade 1, decided to give all of their savings and birthday money to the appeal, a total of $70.00.

At an assembly the Oxley students were addressed by Mrs Thangi Dal, a school parent who migrated to Australia with her family from Burma and Zing Ran Huang (Russ), a Chinese International student, who actually lived in the Sichuan Province before coming to Australia. Both speakers told of their anguish and their burning desire to see their people helped through financial aide.

“The Oxley College community has always been very generous towards others in need and for this reason, we are mindful not to appeal for money too often” said Oxley College Chaplain, Pastor David Burt.  “Last year we aimed to raise $12,000.00 in 12 months so that we could build a pre-school in Cambodia. Amazingly, we raised $14,000.00 dollars in four months. This pre-school will be constructed in June and July, 2008.”

All money raised will be put straight to work through the Samaritan’s Purse International Aid Organisation who have access and approval to work in both countries.

Oxley College is a Christian School in Chirnside Park, Melbourne East - Committed to Excellence in Christian Education!