Student Voice 

Student Voice & Agency Term I

Student Voice and Agency have continued to be a key focus for students at South Oakleigh College.  Students have continued to become involved in many different programs and initiatives.  Our programs encourage students to discuss, plan and deliver activities.  Our students are empowered to become involved in decision-making and planning across different platforms and portfolios.  Students work with their peers and develop student-led activities for everyone that are responsible for improving student outcomes. 

Our Student Representative Council has successfully transitioned to a student-led model, focusing on the importance of student voice & agency directly from students.  Portfolios include: Campaigns, Sustainability, Enrichment, Student Voice and Health & Wellbeing.  Many initiatives were successfully implemented across the school and, in particular, our Health & Wellbeing Team delivered goal-setting activities with a strong year-level focus.

Peer Support has continued to grow and develop to become a successful Peer-to-Peer Model.  Our Peer Support Mentors deliver the program to the Year 10 students.  They continue to work with the Peer Support Leaders who are taught how to plan lessons and activities for their groups of Year 7 students.  Students choose topics and themes to use as they design their program.  Students are involved in all planning aspects of the program and their valued decision making empowers their contribution and participation. 

Student Leadership is seen across the school and students at South Oakleigh College are involved in many aspects of the school community.  Student leaders are skilled in working collaboratively with other students, staff and key stakeholders.  Captains run House assemblies, different programs, assist with the Breakfast Club and are instrumental in ensuring maximum student participation.  Such leadership roles allow students to develop many skills. 

Stav Kantzas

Student Leadership Coordinator

Term I S.R.C Update

Beginning this 2021 academic year, the Student Representative Council has continued to establish each portfolio, and welcoming the Health & Wellbeing portfolio reps into the team.  The student leaders have planned, organised and hosted several events and initiatives throughout the term.

Campaigns hosted a Canteen and BBQ at the Athletics Carnival, providing nourishment and energy to the students as well as raising money for Jeans and Genes.  The team also organised Cultural Diversity Week with various activities held each day.  The initiative aimed to connect the College through promoting multiculturalism, with all donations going towards the Cathy Freeman Foundation.  Within each House Assembly, the students completed a Kahoot on Multicultural Trivia.  On Wednesday, the Student Representative Council hosted an International Bake Sale, with the support of student and staff.  We would like to thank all those who contributed by bringing a dish. 

On Thursday, the College Community showed their support by coming out of uniform and dressed in cultural clothes or orange-coloured clothing. 

The new portfolio, Health & Wellbeing, introduced goal-setting into Mentor Groups, including academic and personal goals.  These activities were completed by each year level, promoting friendships and enabling participants to learn more about their peers in their Mentor Groups. 

The Enrichment team has continued to support the development of a student-led club system, introducing the newly available positions of club captains.  These clubs will be introduced in the coming weeks. 

Sustainability continued working towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly school, planning a garden that can be incorporated into the school curriculum.  The portfolio also organised Ride/Walk to School Day, encouraging the College to decrease carbon emissions, exercise and enjoy the outdoors.

Student Voice has continued to work towards increasing student voice in the classroom through actively listening to students’ opinions.  The team has organised a survey regarding the reading habits of year eight students, in the hope of improving literacy skills within the cohort. 

Student leaders throughout the College have continued to organise weekly Breakfast Club, providing food for all students and staff. 

On behalf of the Student Representative Council,

Esther Walker

S.R.C. President

Year 9 and 10 Intermediate Boys' Volleyball Competition

The Year 9, B Team, did very well this year at volleyball interschool sport.  Unlike last year, where our main goal was to hit the ball over the net with our sets, this year our focus was to use all three hits and set it up for a spike.  We used the blocking skill as well as the different positioning tactics to maximize the outcome of each point.  We played against other B teams and found success winning sets; while we didn't lose a set, in one game we won the first set and then drew the second, but we had to stop it short at 26 to 26 because of lack of time. However, we were given the win because we had won the first set. 

 Overall our team’s synergy was amazing: making on-the-spot decisions in between sets and during time-outs, all the boys played as a team and had a really enjoyable, fun and successful day.  We won the overall day in the B team pool!!

Eli Franzke & Jon Knight

Year 9 

Sustainability Club

Throughout the term some of the members of the Sustainability Club have been assisting to create a herb garden for the school. 

Frank Mouskeftaras and Terry Furfaro did a grat job in installing the planter boxes, with Sayako Kaburagi, Vrunda Mistry and Jia Kaur planting many herbs for the garden. 

Year 7 Transition

Hello, South Oakleigh Secondary College!

My name is Paz, and I am a year 7 student.  I have been finding my transition to high-school surprisingly very smooth.  I have the support from so many teachers and older students.  I enjoy every day at school.  It took a while to get to know the format of the school, but being in week 7, it’s been easier walking to classrooms.  I have really enjoyed Drama, English and Science.  In Science, I really enjoyed creating the ‘My Lab’ poster, explaining 9 lab rules to follow while doing an experiment in the science labs.  In Drama, we learned about tableaux and miming.  In English, I enjoyed learning about themes in stories, which we didn’t touch on as much in primary school.  I am always keen to try new things and I can certainly tick high-school off the list!  I now look forward to camp and the new friendships and experiences this could bring.

Paz Hidas

Year 7

Peer Support Workshop 3: 23 March 2021

On Tuesday the 23rd of March, Peer Support Leaders and Peer Support Mentors held their third workshop following their first official Peer Support session with their Year 7 groups.  

In the workshop, we discussed plans for the Peer Support Leaders to start creating their own sessions to run based on a topic they have chosen within their groups.  These topics will be used to provide specific sessions to their Year 7 group of students.  Tuesday’s workshop was another step forward for Peer Support Leaders in personalising their own sessions for their groups.  

We are excited for what comes next in Peer Support for 2021, in Term 2. 

Amy Vine, Annabelle Windsor & Maple La

Year 11