Principal's Update
Dear Families, Students and Community Members,
Instrumental Music Showcase
On Thursday September 6, our Instrumental Music Showcase was held in a packed Year 7 Learning Centre with over 80 students performing from 7pm – 9.40pm! This was such a wonderful night of celebration for our instrumental and vocal students along with their family members. It was a credit to our dynamic music team - Demis Danoudis Coordinator (and teacher of guitar, piano and voice), Nigel Maas (woodwind), Phillipa Edwards (brass), Michael Follent (guitar), Adrian De Luca (drums), Kelly Ferguson (voice) and Malcolm Abbott (drums) and I thank them for their ongoing support of our students.
District Athletics
Last Thursday Mordialloc College competed against a number of other secondary schools in the District Athletics. In what is an outstanding result we came second on the day, considering we are smaller than most of the other secondary schools across Kingston, Stonington/Glen Eira and Bayside. A number of our students are now progressing to the Southern Zone finals. Thanks to Sports Coordinator, Cory Watters and the PE team, and congratulations to all students who were selected to represent the College to compete on the day.
Funding Commitment
On Wednesday Tim Smith, Shadow Education Minister and local Liberal candidate Geoff Gledhill visited the school again (after previously visiting earlier in the year) to speak to me further about our needs in terms of facility development given we are a rapidly growing school. It was very exciting to hear Mr Gledhill and Mr Smith announce a $9.5 million commitment to Mordialloc College if the Coalition is elected in November. This will allow us to complete stage 2 of our masterplan in the building of a new Year 8 Learning Centre, a new VCE study centre and Senior School learning hub, and some refurbishments in the two storey front building. Thanks to School Council president , Ian Fox, for attending and to our senior leaders and some of our Year 8 students for joining us in this important announcement.
We now have both political parties committing significant funds for future facility development if elected in November.
Student Led Conferences
Another reminder, as we come towards the end of this term, all students should be preparing for their student led conference to be held on Wednesday 19 September 2.00pm-6.30pm where they have the opportunity to showcase their learning to their parents and mentor teacher/home group teacher. All students should be preparing a rich learning portfolio on which to base their conference. It is also a great opportunity to practise their presentation and interview skills that will be so important when going for a job in the future. This will still be a four period day with an extended recess. Lunch will be at 1.00pm. As this is a compulsory component of your child’s program at Mordialloc College, we encourage parents/guardians or another significant adult to attend the conference. If you or another adult are unable to attend, please ensure that your child registers and attends regardless. If there are any issues logging into Compass or if you have misplaced your parent password, please contact the General Office for assistance.
Awards Night Thursday 13 December 2018
This is one of the key events on the College calendar! Every year we come together as a College community to celebrate student successes in a variety of areas such as Academic Excellence, the Arts, Technology, Sport and Community Involvement. There are many prizes awarded on the night, thanks to the generous sponsorship of many organisations in the school community. Students are nominated for these awards by their teachers, home group teachers and year level coordinators and these nominations are based on specific criteria for each award. I encourage all students to strive to achieve their best for the many awards celebrated at this important occasion. These include:
Academic Excellence: The ‘Academic Excellence’ award is bestowed upon students who have demonstrated outstanding academic results within a subject. They have consistently worked above the expected level and/or have achieved a B or an A (in relation to Victorian Curriculum Achievement levels) on their reports where possible. At VCE level students need to be consistently attaining high or very high on all assessments.
Students also need to have demonstrated very good to excellent learning habits in their learning area.
Achievement- Endeavour: The ‘Achievement-Endeavour’ award is awarded to students in recognition of consistent efforts made to strive for their personal best. They have demonstrated academic progress within a subject and have made significant improvements to reach their learning goals.
Community Service: The ‘Community Service’ award is awarded to students from across each year level who have served the College in a particular way. For example participation in a variety of school activities as determined on an annual basis, such as: SRC, House Athletics, House Swimming, School Production, subject competitions, contribution to the College Magazine, participation in Open Night, primary school visits, etc.
Sport Champion: Awarded to one female and one male student from Year 7, Year 8, Intermediate level and Senior level in recognition of outstanding sporting achievements throughout the year.
Special Awards: These awards are contributed by particular organisations to recognise achievements made by students in particular categories. For example, City of Kingston, Rotary, Victoria Police, Australian Defence Force etc.
Year 12 Subject Awards: The ‘Subject Award’ is bestowed upon the student who has consistently attained the highest academic results in all assessment tasks within the subject (for each Year 12 subject).
Year 12 VCAL Awards: The ‘Year 12 VCAL Award’ is awarded to students who have demonstrated significant achievements and progress within the VCAL program. A total of four awards will be given to four students in the subject areas of Numeracy, Literacy, Personal Development and Word Related Skills.
Year 11 VCAL Award: The ‘Year 11 VCAL Award’ is awarded to a student who has demonstrated significant achievement and progress within the Year 11 VCAL program.
Art Award: Awarded to students across all year levels in recognition of outstanding art achievements and progress made throughout the year.
Quality Learner Award: Awarded to a Year 7 and a Year 8 student who has shown high quality commitment to individual learning excellence achieved through teamwork, a process of continual improvement and taking responsibility for their learning.
We look forward to introducing a new award category – DUX of each year level based on the number of Academic Excellence awards students have received and close examination of achievement data. The DUX for each year level won’t be revealed during rehearsals, it will be a surprise to all on the night!
This night is also a significant event for our Year 12 students. It is here that we celebrate the achievements of the graduating class by presenting all students on stage in academic gowns. Students are presented with a graduation certificate in front of the rest of the College community. Subject awards for Year 12 and a number of special awards will also be presented. We look forward to this very special event, held at the City of Kingston Town Hall in Moorabbin on Wednesday 13 December at 7pm. Please enter the date into your diary now!
Assistant Principal Appointment
This term I advertised the substantive position “Assistant Principal: Curriculum and Pedagogy” state wide. After a rigorous application and interview process, I am pleased to announce that Marina Walsh has been appointed to this position. Marina is an experienced leading teacher having worked in a number of schools. She is currently the leader of Teaching and Learning at Mornington SC and also the Timetabler. Prior to this she was the leading teacher for student voice/leadership and also head of numeracy/maths. Marina teaches Maths and PE. We look forward to Marina spending some time with us early next term before officially taking up her appointment from Headstart, November 19. Jennifer Roep, who has been on leave without pay this year to take up an Acting Assistant Principal position at Melbourne Girls College, is now taking maternity/family leave to have her first child.
Staffing Term 4
We have a number of appointments that have been made for positions starting next term –
- Cameron Young is replacing Rachael Pierce for the rest of this year and all of 2019. Rachael, due to personal reasons, will fulfil other duties here at the College.
- Daniel Mayadas is replacing Katrina Doros to teach Year 8 and 9 Maths/Science. Katrina is taking maternity/family leave to have her first child.
- David Bentley is replacin