the 2013 team here at smyl were
TRANSCRIPT
The 2013 team here at SMYL were
recently asked the following questions.... 1) What I do at SMYL?
2) Favourite Moment of 2013. 3) I bet you didn't know that ......
4) The best advice or quote I've ever been given
My name is Tony McRae
I'm the Principal and really enjoy working with students
and staff on our program of education, training and per-
sonal development!
getting the term 3 report of student participation - SMYL
College has more young people being a part of our com-
munity and our program than ever before. Onya you lot!
before coming to SMYL College I was working in Timor-
Leste and helping to build a new training system for Aus-
tralia's northern neighbour.
Do an apprenticeship. I had no idea what to do after finishing
6th Form (Year 12) at Tumut High School in NSW and doing a
trade gave me opportunities for work, travel, further study
and more opportunities!
My name is Dean Dioguardi
I am a Youth Counselor
My favorite SMYL moment/event of 2013 was tied
between the Rock Climbing Excursion and The
Right Track Presentation
I bet you didn't know that hyenas fight to the death
at birth
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is
true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering
My name is Melissa Priemus
I teach an amazing group of Year 11’s both Eng-
lish and Career and Enterprise. In the afternoons
I have an absolute ball teaching the Watersports,
Visual Arts and Drama electives.
Favourite Moment of 2013: I really enjoyed work-
ing on our Castaway’s sculpture, and seeing it
being viewed by the public on the Rocko foreshore
was such a proud moment for the whole team .
More importantly though, watching my amazing
group of students progress and succeed in things
they previously thought were beyond them. You
are such an inspiring group, you make me proud
every day.
“I bet you didn’t know that: What is good for the
wolf is not always good for the pack.
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live” –
Albus Dumbledore
My name is Ruth Berechree
In 2013 I was the year 12 teacher and will teach a
new year 10 class in 2014.
My favourite moment of 2013 was celebrating the
fantastic achievements of my graduating year 12
class.
I bet you didn't know that when awake, the human
brain produces enough electricity to power a small
light bulb!!
“Human happiness and human satisfaction must ulti-
mately come from within oneself. If you wish to ex-
perience peace, provide peace for another.”
My name is Aisling Doherty
I am the Year 10 teacher.
Meeting all of my wonderful class at the beginning
of the year.
Halloween traces back its origins to the Gaelic
festival of Samhain, a harvest festival held on 31
October to mark the end of summer.
“Love many, trust few and always paddle your
My name is Michael Fabiankovits
Year 11 Teacher
Excursion day every week, such fun.
Atoms are 99.9999999999999% empty space, so
the matter of the whole human race could be
squashed into the size of a sugar cube.
“Seize the time
live now
make now
always the most precious time
Now will never come again”
Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek
My name is Anne Thomson
I am the VET Co-ordinator and I arrange for stu-
dents to complete traineeships and certificate
courses whilst here at SMYL CC.
Trying to get Hemi down from a tree at Penguin
Island
He eventually got down
“Get down from that tree Hemi!”
Hello and welcome to SMYL Community College 2013 Yearbook!
Change is always a constant in our lives and this year has been no differ-
ent.
This was our 3rd year of operating—and it was the year our College
started in the refurbished campus, we welcomed more than 30 new stu-
dents and Kate Guthrie was our Principal.
I want to acknowledge the work Kate did in leading our improvements—
SMYL Community College is a better place because of her. Kate left us in
March after a health wake-up call and I came in as the ‘temporary’ re-
placement. And now I’m staying and planning the start of next year! This
was not in my plans at the start of 2013—but I’m really pleased to be a
part of such a great school community.
Congratulations to the 2013 Year 12 students—you became wonderful
leaders and really interesting and warm young adults. Thank you for leav-
ing your positive vibes and energy on your school.
Congratulations too, to the Year 10 and 11 students who this year made
more progress in their education than they have done for years! This is a
great achievement and reflects so well on each of you as you take up the
challenge of learning and growing.
A massive thank you to all the College staff who made 2013 a great year!
Each of you have brought your heart and professionalism to the school and
made a real difference in the lives of our students. Farewell and best
wishes to Aisling Doherty and Michael Fabiankovitz who head off to new
opportunities and adventures. Best wishes also to Dermott Quigley and
Lani Kereopa who were part of the team this year.
Thank you to the College Board and Director and our support staff at
SMYL Community Services — we get better each year because of your
commitment and support.
Have a safe and happy Christmas and see you in 2014!!
Tony McRae
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING (VET) The VET program at SMYL allows students to progress through industry rec-ognised certificate courses. This year several students completed certificates in:
(Year 10) Leadership Development (Year 11) GATE (Gaining Access to Training and Employment) (Year 12) Certificate II Traineeships (On-the-job)
As part of our overall education program these certificates give students the edge in todays’ labour market and help them develop the employability skills required for the workforce of the 21st Century. We were very proud to have two of our Year 12 students leave with Certificate 11 qualifications in Information Technology and Automotive. Both students are now working in their chosen fields and are enjoying the fruits of their hard work. Our Year 10 & 11 students have achieved excellent results in their certificate courses and are now ready to take on the next challenge. I am very proud to be a part of this wonderful school and have thoroughly enjoyed watching students achieve milestones, gain self esteem and confi-dence and build resilience whilst progressing through their certificate courses. Thanks for the memories and bring on 2014!
Anne Thomson VET Co-ordinator
YEAR 10
P Stage English P Stage Mathematics History P Phys Ed.
Geography Science School Electives
Cert I Leadership Dev. Bushrangers Level 1 School Excursions
YEAR 11
English 1A/1B Maths 1A/1B Applied Info Tech 1A/1B
Career & Enterprise 1A/1B Phys. Ed. 1A/1B Visual Arts 1A/1B (Option)
Certificate I GATE School Electives School Excursions
Workplace Learning Employability Skills 1 Bushrangers Level 2
YEAR 12 English 1C/1D Maths 1C/1D Applied Info Tech 1C/1D
Career & Enterprise 1C/1D Phys. Ed. 1A/1B Visual Arts 1A/1B (Option)
Certificate II SBT School Electives School Excursions
Workplace Learning Employability Skills 2 Bushrangers Level 3
SMYL Curriculum begins with the creation of a Personal Learning Plan based on each individual student’s needs. It includes interest based units, Australian
curriculum subjects, a variety of endorsed programs – as well as SMYL College’s program of Electives and Excursions.
Year 10 The Year 10 curriculum (the subjects and lessons) builds the capacity of students with a focus on literacy, numeracy and work readiness. We follow the guidelines of the new Australian Cur-riculum and students have structured lessons in major subject areas. Students also engage with elements of environmental science, history, art and physical education studies as well as the Certificate I Leadership course as preparation for future work experience and training.
Year 11 and 12 Students in Year 11 and 12 are enrolled in the four curriculum subjects of English, Mathemat-
ics, Career & Enterprise and Applied Information Technology. These subjects – combined
with SMYL’s training and work experience programs – allow our students to graduate with a
Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE). The College also works to have students
complete a School-based Traineeship (SBT) – an important step towards an apprenticeship,
higher level training and future employment.
Hi Everyone,
Mel has kindly asked me to do a farewell speech and I’m more than honored to. I didn’t exactly know
what she wanted me to say but I’ve done my best and im hoping these are the right words.
I guess I’m going to start from when I first came here last year. I didn’t know what to expect and I did-
n’t even know if I was going to make any friends so I planned for the worst. I thought my teacher was
going to be like every other teacher I’ve had and just being quite useless, but I was wrong.
Ruth welcomed me with open arms and has been there for me more times than I could ask for. I
wouldn’t even call her a teacher I’d call her a friend. Most students here would describe Ruth as “The
strict one” but we all know she’s just looking out for us and making sure we make the best of our abili-
ties to succeed at life, and I’m pretty sure she’s done just that.
Being in a class with only 7 of us has made it really easy for us to get to know each other and become
close. I can’t even imagine how it would have been without these guys, and once again proving my
original thoughts wrong about this school, I have made load of friends in all years and I’m never going
to forget them, but I sure am going to miss seeing them every day and complaining to each other
about how much school work we have to do.
This school is amazing and I wouldn’t change anything about it. Im sure a good sum of people includ-
ing myself have had our ups and downs with how the school is run and when the teachers tell us what
to do, but we all know were wrong, we just won’t admit it. SMYL Community College is perfect and
anyone lucky enough to come here even for a short while hopefully will have their life changed by the
fun journey and incredible experience. There are so many people to give thanks to for getting us this
far and we will be leaving with a positive impact from them. Thank you Mel for being a great art
teacher and just an all round amazing person to be around.
Thank you Anne for dealing with all my crazy apprenticeship business and still keeping it cool. You
are pretty much everyone’s favorites person at SMYL.
Thank you Michael for picking us up and dropping us off at the train everyday and not complaining
once (and by the way im still really sorry about that time I thought the bus was smaller than 3 meters
and got you stuck under a height pole, I’ll never make that mistake again)
Thank you Aisling for being an awesome cooking teaching and bringing out the creativity in is. I never
knew a recipe could go so wrong and still taste so good.
Thank you Louise for teaching me how to snorkel. I probably would have drowned without you and
that wouldn’t be too great.
Thank you Tony for being the best principal we have ever had. We don’t really like the places you
take us to eat or how much walking you make us do on Fridays but we forgive you, we know you just
want us to try something new, and thanks to you we have.
And last but not least Thank you Ruth for being there for all of us and dealing with our nonsense for
the past few years. I hope none of us forget you. I know I won’t.
It’s hard leaving this place and we don’t know what we are going to do with all this free time now but
farewell SMYL Community College you have done us well.
Love from the 2013 Year 12 Graduates.
King’s
Park
Lesmurdie Falls and
Canning River
Go-Karting
Fremantle Prison
Battle Zone
Fairbridge Farm
2013 has seen SMYL community College at-
tend a wide range of exciting, engaging and
educational excursions.
Miniature Villiage
NAIDOC
Celebrations
Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe
Perth Museum
Perth Cultural Centre
Indoor Rock Climbing
SMYL Community College
Rottnest Island Getaway!
December 10th to 13th saw SMYL Community College
catch the ferry to Rottnest Island for a 3 night school
camp. The bicycle maintenance class had been working
extremely hard all term to supply the camp with enough
bikes so that everyone could experience all that the Island
has to offer!
Our camp started with a Welcome to Country, and then
everyone split into their dorms, where they were responsi-
ble for cooking and cleaning.
Day two saw us completing a Bush Ranger’s scavenger
hunt in teams, followed by a an evening relaxing on the
beach. Day three we cycled over 8 kms to Mary Cove,
where the snorkelling was magical and the King Skink’s
came out to share our oranges. That night we celebrated
Bailey’s 16th birthday with a Quiz night and cake!
By the end of the holiday we were all tired, a little sun-
burnt and memories that will last a life time!
A range of electives for every
taste and interest.
I love everything about this school. I have learnt more at SMYL CC
than any others school I’ve been to. I love how the teacher’s help us when
we need help and the work just seems so much easier. We go to heaps of
places i can’t wait to go on school camp.
Dekoda
I love SMYL best opportunity. I never dreamed I would see the day of
passing grade 10 & 11. The support from the teachers is unbelievable
couldn’t thank them enough, can’t wait for our adventure to Rottnest.
Shania
School Terms:
Term 1: Tuesday 4 February – Friday 11 April
Please note: Year 11 & 12 students commence on Wednesday 5 February 2014 - a
day after the new Year 10s start at SMYL College.
Term 2: Tuesday 29 April – Friday 4 July
Term 3: Tuesday 22 July – Friday 26 September
Term 4: Tuesday 14 October – Thursday 18 December
Public Holidays:
Labour Day: Monday 3rd March
Good Friday: Friday 18th April
Easter Monday: Monday 21st April
West Australia Day: Monday 2nd June
Queens’ Birthday: Monday 29th October
The College Office will re-open to students and families on Tuesday 28 January 2014
– until then, best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
32 Tesla Road, Rockingham WA 6168
Tel (08) 9550 9400 Fax (08) 9528 2183
SMYL Community College
All students have a right to learn and have fun - without disruption and knowing our College is safe and welcoming.
We understand that new students may take a while to fit-in and to understand our culture.
By following our College Principles: - Respect; - Participation; - Learning; and, - Safe and Legal, each student can have a great time and make a positive contribu-tion to SMYL Community College!
‘Happiness and Usefulness’