Assistant Principal Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Term 2 at Mordialloc College has been as busy as usual! It is always a challenging time of year as the weather becomes colder and the daylight hours shorten. But this hasn’t darkened the spirits of our Senior School students who have yet again made us all proud to be a part of the College community.

For the ANZAC day school service at the Shrine of Remembrance, 30 SRC members, along with Ms Campbell and Mrs Brown, paid their respects and laid a wreath in honour of those who lost their lives in wars and conflicts. Mordialloc College’s representation at this commemorative event is important to us and we are proud of those who choose to attend.

 At the start of May, Year 10 and 11 students attended the Careers Expo at Caulfield racecourse. The excursion was organised by Jane Jamieson, our Careers and Pathways Advisor, and proved to be highly valuable to many of the students. They were able to attend seminars on VCE subjects, tertiary courses, careers and gap year options; there was well over a hundred exhibitors for them to visit. For some students, the event provided insight into careers they had not considered previously, whilst for others it offered guidance around possible pathways available to them in order to achieve their dream career.

We were lucky this year that House Cross Country took place on a sunny autumn day, making the 3 or 5 kilometre course somewhat less of a challenge! Senior school participation was good and it was, as whole school sports events always are, fantastic to see so many students and some staff taking part – regardless of ability.

Our College Captains have engaged the four houses in a five-cent collection competition; the first house to fill their jar will win and all the money collected will be donated to The Smith Family. At the moment, Iwala is in the lead with Kalura running a close second. It is difficult to estimate how much will be raised from the competition but Sabrina assures me it is likely to be in excess of $300. The response so far has been excellent!

Year 10 went out on work experience this term and represented the College incredibly well. Most students enjoyed their week and were able to reflect on their experience in the workplace. They could review what they had learnt and how the skills they developed could help them in the future. Some found they were inspired to pursue careers in particular areas whereas others discovered that the career they had previously been considering was perhaps not as suited to them as they thought. All in all, the week provided a wide range of learning opportunities for our students and we are grateful to Jane for her hard work in organising these opportunities and to Kim Cowain-Menzies for supporting Jane in ensuring the huge amounts of paperwork were processed in time.

Elevate will be in school again this term, running sessions with Year 11s as they approach end of unit exams, and Year 12s as they approach their final semester of study and begin to prepare for their final exams. It is always hoped that students take away valuable study skills from these sessions so that their home study can be more focused and useful.

As the end of semester and subject units come to an end, and GAT (General Assessment Task) approaches, we wish all our Senior students great success. Exams can present challenges and we are keen that students achieve their best. The Wellbeing team will be running a session with Year 12 students to give them strategies for managing stress and they are always happy to support anyone who might experience feelings of uncertainty or worry at these times. We hope to see all students taking responsibility for achieving their personal best, by studying and preparing for exams in each of their subjects.  As in everything we do at Mordialloc College, we have high expectations of all our students and look forward to some excellent results for this semester.

Mrs Joanne Greenhalgh

Acting Assistant Principal