SENIOR SCHOOL

Despite many weeks spent in Remote and Further Learning again this year, students in Years 10, 11 and 12 managed to achieve great heights in 2021. With the support of Karen Sorrell, Ray Boulter, Cass Burdett, Nicole Creaser and Jessi Hunter, our Senior School team supported our students to perform at their best. It was so great to watch students maintain communication and connections with peers and teachers at school and really utilise the supports we have created in the Senior School. I am very proud of the culture of cooperation, resilience & aspiration which develops each year with the next generation of students who are focused on their future pathways.

2021 was the first year that the Senior school offered students in Years 11 & 12 the chance to choose their own mentors. This extension of the school-wide mentor program has proven particularly valuable to those students who are ready to build on the positive relationships they have developed with their teachers over the previous four years. Our 2021, Attitudes to School Survey results demonstrated that across years 10, 11 & 12, students indicated that ‘high expectations for success’ and ‘teacher concern’ were both in the 4th quartile or the top 75th percent of the State’s data. This means that most Senior School students feel as though their teachers and mentors are their advocates at school or their ‘go-to -person’ to help them aim high and achieve their best. Brilliant!

Year 10:

While we had to cancel Work Experience once this year, the Year 10’s certainly made up for it in Term 4 with most of our students engaging in meaningful employment, for two weeks after Headstart ’22 finished. It was an absolute joy to spend time visiting students on site and in situ, seeing them making contributions to the community, gaining skills and creating opportunities.

The year 10’s also made it to the city this year with Ms Burdett to view the street art, take in the atmosphere and attend Melbourne Museum for an all-important Road Safety session. We were particularly impressed with the Year10’s maturity and resilience in 2021 and their ability to adapt where necessary, moving from online to in-person classes and many maintaining the VET course as well!

Year 11:

Two sessions by the Reach Program were organised by Ms Creaser this year, with a specific goal in mind: helping students to connect with their community and each other. The youthful presenters who come from a diverse range of backgrounds, always connect so well with our KSC students and the focus and dedication was incredible to watch. The program also aims to help students work towards an authentic sense of self.

Beau Vernon a Leongatha legend, and now motivational speaker also came to KSC in Term Four to speak to an enthralled group of Year 11’s in the STEAM foyer. His work with young people has been focussed on grit, developing a positive mindset and overcoming adversity.

Many thanks to the Salvation Army for their sponsorship and support of both the Reach program and our guest speaker for the Year 11 cohort in 2021.

Year 12:

For those on a VCE pathway, the examination process both at school and externally was – dare I say it – more challenging than last year! After moving the GAT twice again, the VCAA decided that in our ‘new-COVID-normal’ school environment, students would still be allowed to sit their Unit 3-4 exams regardless of whether they were deemed a ‘Personal Close Contact.’ While this was quite challenging administratively in terms of PPE, check-ins, isolation rooms and extra supervisors, EVERYONE associated with this process at KSC handled themselves with poise and the entire examination period went off without any major hiccups! In fact, the wild weather on the day of the Further Maths exam proved more troublesome than COVID at one point! But again, despite power-outages, all students performed very well. This extreme weather event has now been considered by the VCAA as they finalise the marks for this subject.

Meanwhile in VCAL Enterprise, all students achieved outstanding success with two off-site activities selling hand-crafted and home-made goods at the Korumburra Primary and Loch Primary schools respectively. Coupled with the production of an in-house, self-published and marketed fully-fledged cookbook – ‘The Food Bible’ – it was a hugely successful year for VCAL. Through the DET’s Headstart Program, we also congratulated Jean Cause and Kodie Walker on gaining an ‘SBAT’ and beginning their career while still completing their Senior VCAL certificates. Liam Dole also signed up as a Headstart Apprentice through the assistance of Tanya Nelson and the Headstart program. Kicking goals!

The annual VCE Art show ran as planned (albeit without outside visitors). The Art show included works from Studio Art, Design Technology and Visual Communication Design. After a year of lockdowns and remote learning all the works on display showed incredible talent, creativity and dedication to these subjects. A panel of teachers and staff judged the works and awarded a prize to one student from each class. These went to Shannen de Bondt for Studio Art, Tarkwyn Beddegenoodts for Visual Communication Design and Mackenzie Findlay for Design Technology. The People’s Choice award went to Jaxon Checkley (picture on front cover).

We ended the class of 2021 High School days with 3 days of celebrations, dress-ups videos, cup cakes, show bags, tear-jerking farewell videos, dance routines and even paint-gun fights on the oval! It was one of the most memorable celebrations we have had for the students leaving with KSC and a lot of fun. My special thanks to Donna Muldoon and Jessi Hunter for all your brilliant organisation for this special group of students.

And finally, Valedictory was held at the beautiful and stylish Harmans’s winery. We were beyond lucky that parents were able to make a last-minute dash and be present for the formalities of the night once the state-wide COVID restrictions had lifted. And the night would have not have been possible without Nicole from Harman Wines being so flexible and adaptable. We are very grateful our Year 12s were able to end a challenging year on such a special note. The class of 2021 will certainly be missed at KSC.

It was busy, productive and extremely rewarding 2021 in the Senior School, and I am so glad to have been a part of it 😊 Thank you.

Melissa Neill