Year 11 & 12

Welcome back!

I hope that you’ve all had a productive and restful break.

The term has started in an exciting way with Year 11 students attending a Careers Expo on Thursday 2nd May at Caulfield Racecourse. The expo included information from a broad range of universities, TAFE courses, community organisations and other careers that don’t necessarily require tertiary qualifications. This experience allowed students to see the overwhelming variety of options and potential pathways that are available to them at the end of year 12 in 2020. By the time students are in Year 11, they have been working on their post-secondary pathways since year 9, with a range of school programs and dedicated support from our Careers Leader. This was one more opportunity for our lucky students to gain some insight into the hard work, planning and steps needed to meet the requirements for their future careers!

Now that it is Week 3 in Term 2, all students should be in their full winter uniform as outlined in our uniform policy. The uniform policy is readily available on our LSC website or at the following link http://www.lalorsc.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Uniform-Policy.2019-2021.pdf

We regularly schedule uniform checks on all students to ensure that all students are wearing their uniform with pride.

Finally, I am sure that you will read about this in more depth further on in this newsletter, but briefly, I would like to say thank you to the 3 amazing teachers and the 23 students who I was lucky enough to attend the LSC Europe Trip with from 5th – 20th April. If you’d like to have a look at some of the amazing sites and laughs we had on the trip, please search ‘lsc overseas trip’ on Instagram.

Ms. Julie Ryan

Assistant Principal

Julie Ryan

Assistant Principal

Years 9 & 10.

Welcome back to all students and their families. This term the year 9 and 10 team also welcomed, back Mr Sam Maganao as Acting Leading Teacher – Sub School Leader, replacing Mr Danher who is on Long Service leave for the first few weeks. We wish Mr Danher a well-earned break as he travels across the UK. Term two will be a busy and exciting for our students in years 9 and 10 with lots of opportunities for them to extend their learning and to gain a broader understanding of their world and community in which they live.

Year nine students through The Explore program will be beginning several community based fieldwork trips to investigate their local communities and the facilities and recourses available for citizens, whilst our year 10 students should be well on the way to finalising their placements for Work Experience in readiness for their Workplace Health and Safety modules later this term.

The year 10 team are still waiting on their Work Experience forms to be returned. These are due back as soon as possible. We ask all parents to please check-in with your child to ensure they have organised a placement and returned their forms. The Work Experience Program is a compulsory and important part of the year 10 program. It supports students in the planning of their senior years of schooling and provides a vital insight to the world of work they will experience as adults in the future. Please do not hesitate to contact Krystal Bussell or visit the school website for specific details relating to the Work Experience Program at Lalor Secondary College.

NAPLAN

As you are aware, NAPLAN tests for years seven and nine students are held in May each year. All parents of students in these year levels will have already received an information letter From Mr Jewell. These tests assess for student knowledge and skills in the areas of Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. The results of these tests provide valuable information for parents, students and teachers and here at LSC are used in many ways to improve student achievement. This year our students will be completing the tests as on-line assessments. They will be using school computers to complete all of their tests. The tests will take place during a two-week window, from the 14 to 24 May, to allow all classes to sit the scheduled tests. These tests are “tailored ‘which means they adapt to your child’s responses being either correct or incorrect providing a more precise understanding of student achievement. If your child is absent during any of these tests, catch up tests will be held throughout the testing window.

Ms. Laura Forster

Assistant Principal

Year 7 & 8

Dear Families,

Lalor has been an especially great place to be in recent weeks, despite the change to colder weather! It was a great privilege to witness the spectacle of Arts Week, with the many activities occurring through the week. Many of our year 7 and 8 students observed the ‘dance off’ held in our open classroom area adjacent to the music department – with a wide range of spontaneous performances from our students. Our students also spent some time bringing colour and life to the stairwells of our 100s building – a project much commented on by visitors to the school.

School tours are running at a feverish pace at present, with 6-10 families visiting with their prospective year 7 students every week. I take great pride in our staff and students while taking these tours, our College is an inviting, courteous, exciting land of opportunity and this is not lost on visiting families. Should families know of prospective members of our learning community who would like a tour, please ask them to contact me at the College and this will be arranged.

Planning is well under way for our year 8 ‘sleep over’ at the College which will raise awareness among our students and community about youth homelessness. This will be a great fun and educational experience for students, I just hope they actually manage a little sleep! Students are currently being selected for participation, and interested students should contact Ms Christian and Ms Trajkovic in order to get involved.

Looking at outings on the horizon, I note that our 7s are heading out on their fieldwork excursions to the inner city suburbs such as Northcote. During these outings students study local business patterns, the design of unfamiliar communities and facilities. These outings are fabulous because students work together in group learning projects to better understand the broader environments extending beyond their immediate surroundings. As always, I have every confidence that our young students will demonstrate the values our school with exemplary behaviour and courtesy while in these public settings.

Our staff will shortly undertake the third of four domains of our Berry Street training in trauma informed education. These domains of ‘Body’, ‘Stamina’, ‘Engagement’ and ‘Character’ are delivered to our entire Lalor staff by Berry Street Inc., the Victorian-based school that seeks to address the many stressors that impact child development and classroom learning every day. The Berry Street Model was designed to meet the educational needs that arise from such stressors in the daily experience of the students to address anxiety, disengagement and to foster inquiry and richer, more meaningful learning relationships. In undertaking this training, we are at the cutting edge of teaching, learning and wellbeing practice in Australia. The work we do will inform our new whole school pastoral program in support of students from 2020.

Just a reminder to stay warm and dry and to be sure to follow uniform guidelines closely during these colder weeks.

Mr. Tim Cottrell

Assistant Pricipal

School Values