In Round 1 the Vipers defeated the Bluehawks in a fierce contest, but round 2 proved to be the true test, as we faced the Outlaws, the reigning premiers.  The game was fierce and competitive as we were forced to a 1-1 draw. As we were forced to a shootout, the Vipers were able to conquer their pre-game hitters, by scoring the winning points. Unfortunately, it was cross town rivals, Windsor Warriors, who would disrupt the Vipers undefeated stance. They cruised to a 2-1 victory. The Vipers were able to regain their composure in the game of the minor round, as they defeated the Raiders in a convincing fashion.

To summarise this outstanding day, the Vipers played four games and only lost one. We are proud to say that after our anxious wait we avenged our earlier defeat and downed the Warriors. This earned us a position in the Grand Final where we played the Para Hills Outlaws. Unfortunately, we were outplayed by the Outlaws. While we were runners up for a second time, we are still extremely of our second place, particularly with the inclusion of several new players.

We would like to congratulate Nicki Vermey, who received the Hall Of Fame award, and Todd Sampson and Harley Begley for receiving Encouragement Awards.

A special thank you goes out to the family and friends who supported us throughout the day, especially Monica Strange who supplied the team with delicious food. We would also like to thank the volunteers at Ice Factor for putting this event together. This event would not be successful without their tireless efforts and hard work. Last of all, the team would like to thank Miss Bone, as we couldn’t have done it without her.

The next tournament will take place on the 18^th of June, 2012. We look forward to you showing your support.

Regards,

The Valley View Vipers

From the creators of the Fruit Ninja series.

Free

Ages 9+

Infrequent/Mild Cartoon Violence

19.3MB

Game play- The Aim of the game is to grab your jetpack and fly as long as you can while dodging missiles and strategically placed zappers. Vehicles are available to players by brushing past the icon in game and the game randomises a vehicle in which to use. And just when you think your run is over there is a final spin which can give the player second chances or boosts for their next run. Different achievements become available when the player completes previous achievements. Different vehicles can be acquired while playing to achieve a further distance and when unlocked, more coins. Coins can be bought with real currency in game if player wish to do so.

Achievements/Missions- Achievements vary from:

• Collecting Spin Tokens
• Travelling a certain distance with a vehicle
• Brushing against objects and having near misses
• Collecting Coins & many more

Unlockables- Different types of jetpacks can be bought through the in-store game, each have the same performance, they just look different. Also powers for vehicles can be bought to help players reach high scores more easily.

Characters- Players can buy different costumes with no added bonuses, just for looks and another thing players can spend their money on.

The only people who listen to jazz anymore are those who actually have an interest in music. Modern music in my opinion can’t be classified as music, these days anyone could become popular through what is supposedly called music. Just by screaming obnoxious words into a microphone while a guitarist just plays random notes with their top string tuned to drop D and the drummer just thrashing out his kick drums. You could be the next best screamo band in the world.

 I think people should learn what music really is, start from the beginning and work their way up to what they call dubstep, which basically sounds like someone blowing a raspberry on some fat mans stomach and occasionally say wub wub.

Everyone that has ever written or recorded decent music seems to be slowly disappearing off the face of the earth or is already dead. Out of most of the year 10 students at Valley View only three students listen to Nirvana, 70% of the students have admitted that they enjoy listening to dubstep.

Honestly I am really sick of people thinking that Skrillex is the greatest thing that has happened to the planet since Michael Jackson died, I don’t even like Michael Jackson very much myself but I would much rather listen to him than listen to Skrillex. When Skrillex comes on the radio and my brother forces me to leave it on that station, I literally feel as though my brain cells could be dying.

People keep forgetting all of those amazing musicians of the time before dubstep like Joan Jett, Elvis Presley, Beethoven, Johnny Cash and The Beatles.

So I guess all I seem to be doing is going on about how terrible I think dubstep is, not all new music is terrible, some of it actually has meaning for example some of the not so popular stuff like He Is We and Ron Pope. Most popular music seems to just be meaningless and full of sexual innuendos.

A few weeks ago a documentary called “Kony 2012” was realised on the internet, this video went viral meaning it is shared all over social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Within the first week it had 70 million views on Youtube alone. I write to you because I encourage readers to look at both sides, examine the facts.

The documentary was about Joseph Kony the leader of the lord’s Resistance Army a rebel group in North Africa who say they are fighting for freedom. There is an arrest warrant by International Criminal Court for war crimes which include the abduction of children for his army. Joseph Kony is coincided to be one of the world worst war criminals. The aim of the documentary is to raise awareness so politicians will intervene with military action. This has not been meet without resistance along with support. You can watch the video by web searching “Kony 2012”. The organisation that made the documentary and is heading up the campaign is called Invisible Children.

I believe that Joseph Kony should be brought to justice before the International Criminal Court for his war crimes but a lot of people knows very little or nothing about Kony till a few weeks ago. Basing all of your information and opinions about this topic on one documentary is short sited, in my opinion and doesn’t include two sides to the story. Is military intervention the best way to stop Knoy? But Kony is accused of still has child soldiers, what if they shot at soldiers stoping Kony? After watching a few videos and doing a bit of research on the internet a different option is clear.

Some believe that Kony 2012 is a campaign to create a reason for American troops to invade the countries where the LRA resides in, dismantle the LRA and capture Kony but there main objective would be to control the oil in this region or set up a military base in Africa which could be linked in with the new world order conspiracy. The film focus on the LRA in Uganda but the LRA has moved into some parts of South Sudan which has large oil reserves.

America already has ~100 troops in Uganda as advises only; the numbers of the LRA have estimated to have been massively reduced within the last few years because of efforts from the Ugandan army along with its allies. The numbers estimated to have been reduced from ~5000 to ~200 soldiers. So do we need more troops in the region? The LRA may recruit more troops if the US gets more involved. The local armies seem to be stoping the LRA already. In my option other countries should get involved with the affairs of other countries.

Since Kony has been accused of war crimes he should be bought before a court and have a fair trial. What are the real intensions for stoping Joseph Kony? There are two sides to every story and questions on both sides which are worth answering. I respect people right to an opinion which is why the option is left open but I do think you should do your research on both side before forming that opinion.

Regards,

A View Online Reader

It has come to my attention that the prices of everything from food to bills to movie tickets have risen dramatically over the past few years. The prices of many things before these increases were already quite expensive and now the prices of some things are getting to a ridiculous level.

Already there are many people that are struggling to pay for essential items that are needed everyday like food, water and electricity. This leaves no space for people who are already struggling to pay for things to have any freedom to go out and have some fun, because they simply can’t afford to go out and spend money.

People are also paying more for things but in return they are getting less than what they used to. For example the price of food is rising everyday, but the amount of food that you are getting for your money is less. This is because the companies who make all of these products are putting a reduced weight of food in their products.

 Because of prices rising in stores people are having to find alternatives to buy things and in most cases this leads to people doing online shopping. This would be okay except people are buying from online stores that are based overseas, because the prices are cheaper there. This means that stores here are having to rise their prices to make up for the lack in sales, because people are buying things online. This makes it even harder for people who can’t/don’t want to but things over the internet.

 I urge you and your readers, especially those who are already struggling to pay for things, to speak up and help take action in this matter by voicing your opinions and making sure that you buy local to help our already struggling economy.

Yours sincerely

Dana S

On Thursday the 29^th of March 2012, the year 10 band performed at the whole school assembly. It was the first time they had performed on stage and they were all very nervous but excited at the same time.

They had 11 members playing in the band who peformed at different times. There were three guitarists: Peri, Kyle, and Mr Gorrie; two bass players: Brodie and Aidan; two keyboard players: Lewis and Vanessa; two singers: Nghi and Helen; and two drummers: John and David. They performed two songs: 21 Guns, and Sweet Child of Mine.

The band had been practising for over 2 months, with help from Mr Gorrie of course. Even though the band had plenty of practice, they were still very worried about how good their performance would be.

Even though their performance wasn’t as perfect as the band would have liked it to have been, they still had a lot of fun performing. They also would have liked to perform more than just two songs.

All the members of the band were happy with the outcome of their performance, after all, their nerves had past and the butterflies in their stomachs were gone.

In the future, they would like to learn more songs and perform as much as possible so they won’t be nervous on stage. All the band members are close friends so they could end up going further with their music once school is finished for them.

The members of the year 10 band would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in the production of the recent performance, and everyone who has helped and given support to them along the way.

Album – 21

Genre – Pop, Soul, R&B, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock

Album Length – 48:12

Tracks – 11 – Rolling in the Deep, Rumour Has It, Turning Tables, Don’t You Remember, Set Fire to the Rain, He Won’t Go, Take It All, I’ll Be Waiting, One and Only, Lovesong, Someone Like You

Adele’s chart topping album, 21, which follows her debut album, 19, has been a huge success all around the world topping the charts and spawning singles that have also hit number one.

The album, which was first released in January of 2011 and debuted at the top of the UK Album Chart after selling 208,000 copies. The album, which Adele started to write during April of 2009, explores the feelings of heartbreak, revenge, anger and forgiveness.

The album which features 11 tracks, 10 of which were written by Adele, three of which have been singles which have all hit the top of the charts.

Rolling in the Deep, the first single released, is about her break up with her boyfriend and how she feels worthless. The song is certainly catchy as it has a good tempo and the song can easily get stuck in your head for days which is a good thing because the song is hard to get sick of.

Turning Tables is about Adele’s confrontation with her ex-boyfriend and how he kept on making it look like he was innocent in what had happened between them. This song is a personal favourite on the album because the song is not over orchestrated with only Adele and a piano accompanying along with some string instruments.

The fourth track on the album, Don’t You Remember, features how her boyfriend left without telling her and Adele wanting him to remember how he loved her before he left because of all her faults. This song is high on my list of favourite songs from this album as it is somewhat up tempo yet still displays Adele’s sadness at her boyfriend leaving her through the lyrics of the song and the sadness in her voice when singing.

Set Fire to the Rain, the third single released from the album, is probably one of my least favourite songs on the album with the chorus being the song’s only redeeming factor. The song which I thought to be good when I first heard it never seems to entice me to listen to it as I now have to usually force myself to listen to the entire song without hitting next.

Someone Like You, Adele’s second single from, 21, is about when she found out that the man she had been with for 18 months had gotten engaged to someone else only a few months after they broke up. With only a piano accompanying Adele it’s shows all of her talent and you can tell she is really feeling the sadness about the situation she is in while she is singing the song because of this it had become a crowd favourite and one of mine as well.

The album as a whole is good because of its diversity between the up tempo songs and the ballads. The album which has proven popular all over the world can be used greatly after you have broken up with your partner but not the best when you are happy in a relationship because of its themes of heartbreak and sadness. Adele’s voice has and will continue to astound listeners and you can tell that when she releases her next album it will hit number one of the charts soon after it has been released.

Five lessons a week ensure that the group can play the songs very well and they hope to play on stage in front of a school assembly.

Students in the year 10 music program include singers, Helen Rice and Nghi Chau. Guitarists Kyle Williams, Patrick Carver and Peri Zabanias play all of the intricate lead parts in the songs while Annie Salemi and Emma Spencer play chords as rhythm guitarists. Mr Gorrie, as a highly experienced guitarist, has also devised his own little riffs to go along with the songs. Playing the soft melodies on the keyboard are Lewis Robertson, Vanessa Rice and Jordan Vernochi . Bass Guitarists Aidan McLeer and BrodieMuscat combine with drummers John Curl, Aaron Strange and David Jaquera to keep the beat and rhythm.

Some of the students also attend personal lessons to further their skills.Our guitarists have Mr.Russo to teach them new songs and skills on Thursdays during lessons. Mr Ferrero comes in once a week to help improve the keyboard students.

The Year 10 band is performing on the 29^th of March at the full school assembly. Songs being performed are‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ and ‘21 Guns’.The bandis excited about a public performance and can’t wait to show off their talent to their peers. Special thanks to Mr Gorrie for bringing the band together and being a great mentor in the practical and theory applications of Music.

I believe that printing should be free. To pay for printing that we need for curriculum tasks seems unfair. Students also have things that they would rather spend their money on. No one wants to spend their lunch money on printing because they had to do another copy. This has happened to me and I was hungry for the rest of the day. Also the students have less to think about. They don’t have to worry about money and therefore can write the proper amount that is needed for a task.

I interviewed year 10’s, and most agree that printing should be free. That is mostly on the basis of saving money. One of those students’s has informed me, that once; one of her sibling’s spent $12 dollars on printing. Now $12 dollars doesn’t sound like much, but for printing school material, you really think twice that it should be free.

Printing is expensive. The cost of running the printer, supplying the paper, ink and maintenance are on- going costs that students are unaware of. This is a break-down on what those costs are:
the printer itself is $12,000 and around the school there are four. The company that the school purchases the printer from is called Ricoh. Now the school orders two pallets of paper, every six months and a ream costs $3 dollar. The ink and anything that is extra, is included in the price. These numbers all added up, turn out to be a massive payment for the school. Now the school keeps a printer for year and at the end of the year the printer is renewed. The school is on a plan so if the printer does breakdown or malfunction, the printer is fixed and the cost is covered.

For a black and white copy, it originally costs 1¢ and 10¢ for a colour copy. All of those costs involved the school charges, 5¢ for black and white and 15¢ for colour. It is an extra 4¢ for black and white; also another 5¢ for colour, which I believe are unnecessary increase.

With that said, that is a lot of money for a printer. We still need to try and subsidise the cost for students. We should make the students pay a small amount of money at the beginning of the year, which covers the whole year of printing use.  Therefore students don’t have to worry about printing costs, which will make them more involved in doing their work and the teachers can get all the work that is required.

At Valley View Secondary School, all students have access to the Internet for educational purposes. Students usually use the Internet to do class work that their teachers have set or for individual research in order to complete assignments. The school Internet was very efficient until late 2011, when someone decided to change the way things worked.

At the end of last year, I started to notice some changes. Most of the websites I needed to access for school work had been blocked. I did some research on this issue and found out that at the end of term 3 last year, the education department (DECD) installed a new filtering system across all sites. This decision has affected all government schools. Catholic and private schools, on the other hand, have their own systems for content filtering.

The new filtering system is ridiculous as it blocks most of the sites that are required for school work as well. Sometimes even the websites that had been written on the whiteboard or recommended by teachers for students to use had also been blocked. This is a big inconvenience as students have to pay for Internet use, now we also have to pay even though we are unable to view information that we need. I believe that this new filtering system is inaccurate and unnecessary because before the department changed it, we already had a different sort of DECD filtering system and it was pretty effective. Only non-educational sites with offending content were blocked.

When you try to access blocked websites, another site comes up and saying that this website has been ‘Blocked by URL Filter Database’. To get past this filter you have to be authorised and need a username and password. This is a staff only privilege. As a result, we waste time on school computers since we cannot finish our school work there. This means we have more homework to do as we are able to access the educational websites which have been blocked by the school filtering system at home.

I have talked to a lot of students and they all agree that the new filtering system is unnecessary as most of the websites which have been blocked have no offending content. When asked for her opinion about the new Internet filter, one of the students stated I think that the internet blockage is a real inconvenience and it should be fixed as soon as possible, so I can do my work.

Another student said It really annoys me when the stupid block system comes up, most of the websites are blocked and it means I have to either look on Wiki (which can give you false information) or I have to do it all at home which sucks. I think the government needs to look over this again and unblock some of the websites that we should be able to look at.

I agree with the student comments and think that the education department needs to look over this issue again and take the educational and non offending websites off the block list. This would make it much easier for students to do their school work. After all, we are just high school students trying to learn so why should we have to deal with such a difficult situation?