Sydenham Campus Principal Message
Campus Principals’ Report - Sydenham
August 2022
Welcome back to all students and families to a very chilly Term 3. We had a busy end to Term 2 and have started the new term in much the same fashion!
We ended our semester with a Campus Assembly in the last week of term. Our Campus Captains and Student Leaders were very professional in running the assembly and supporting each other to speak in front of a large group of their peers and staff. Congratulations to Lillie Walters- Cullen on her rendition of the National Anthem to begin the Assembly. We are fortunate to have such talented students in our cohort- public speakers, musicians and singers, sports stars and dance performers
Hannah, Jana, Keira and Fogaa opening our Campus Assembly
Phoenix delivering the Sports Report, supported by Campus Sport Captain, Koray.
We acknowledged students with RRR Awards these students had consistently displayed Respect, Responsibility and Valuing Relationships throughout the term and were nominated by Team staff.
We also congratulated students who had excellent attendance rates for the term. The following students received a certificate celebrating their achievement and a Canteen voucher; Vincent Lay, Angus Morgan, Ava Chircop, Rianna Malonzo and Jasmine Kamboj.
The Assembly closed with a standing ovation for Aydin who gave a fantastic dance tribute to Michael Jackson. Aydin is the 2022 Performing Arts Scholarship recipient.
Thank you to Andrew Atherton and Karen Martin, our Campus Leaders, who work behind the scenes to support our student leaders to prepare and run our Campus assemblies. Continued thanks to the Performing Arts staff for their work with students to perform on these occasions.
Preparation for 2023 is well underway and students in Years 8, 9 and 10 are currently selecting subjects for their 2023 courses.
Year 10 students ended semester 1 with exams. These were held in similar conditions to the way that VCE exams are held at Delahey. We were fortunate to be able to employ external invigilators to further simulate the experience.
This week, Year 10 students will be completing their Course selections for 2023 by attending the campus with their families. Thank you to the Pathways Team for all of their work in preparing resources, informing and supporting students.
Year 9 Students are also currently working with staff to select their Year 10 2023 courses. Again, we have a pleasing number of students selecting to ‘accelerate’ their VCE by choosing a VCE subject as part of their Year 10 program.
Last week, Year 8 students participated in the Art/Tech Expo. This session is designed to give students information about the Art and Technology electives on offer for 2023. Students were able to hear from subject teachers, view examples of student work from each of the electives and speak with staff about the content and skills of each subject. Final selections are due this week.
Year 10 Textiles at Sydenham junior campus.
Designed and made by Sawra Dawood
Designed and made by Eliza Lee.
These finished garments are examples of the work that the Sydenham Year 10 Textiles students completed last semester. They are inspired by 1950s cocktail dress designs. Both students looked at the House of Dior and its designers from the last seven decades. They were taught how to design and prepare design options, annotate their pages, get to know different types of fabrics, read pattern symbols, design their patterns and how to apply specific construction techniques using the sewing machines.
Art is also featuring around the Campus. Thank you to Mr De Castro who has been curating art works completed by students and displaying them in the Admin building. Mr De Castro selected Year 7 Linocut prints to be purchased and professionally framed for the College’s Student Art Collection. The students were taught how to safely carve their individual linos with the carving tools according to their designs. Some of them took as inspirations their photos taken on a recent Zoo excursion. They were also taught the collaborative process of printing and the proper registration of paper and inked lino. They also worked as cleanly and orderly as possible while going through the printing process.
Students study a Language Other than English (LOTE) from Years 7-9. At Copperfield, those languages are Italian and Japanese. There are many engaging activities that occur during these lessons and we were fortunate to see an example of this in a Year 7 class recently. The year 7 students were creating hiragana flash cards by writing the romaji (English letter for Japanese pronunciation guide) on the back before cutting the cards up. The clever students used the back light of the window to correctly align their writings. They were given games, like memory, to play over the holidays to improve their recognition and retention. 一緒にひらがなを練習し ましょう！(let's practice hiragana together!)
Campus Leadership profiles for our last two Team Leaders; Aggie Koroneos K Team Leader
What I teach: Food Tech and Literacy Hobbies: Cooking, reading, gardening and long walks.
Pets: 12-year-old Maltese Shih Tzu, crazy cute and did I say crazy!
Favourite Quote: I have 2! Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. AND It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you don’t stop.
Ercan Hasip- H Team Leader
As a former Copperfield College student, I am proud to be able to teach at the school which has helped me start my educational journey. I have been teaching for 14 years, with lots of experience with supporting students with their learning and helping them aspire and achieve their goals. I have been a Year Level Coordinator for seven out of those fourteen years across two different schools. This is my 3rd year as a Team leader at Copperfield College. I am a passionate Carlton supporter in the AFL and I follow Newcastle United. I am a father of two so I don’t have much time to myself, but when I do I like to play soccer and keep myself fit.
Semester 1 Reports were made available on Compass at the beginning of this term. We encourage students and their families to read through the reports and to take note of any areas of improvement. We also encourage communication with Home Group and class teachers. We invite phone calls and emails and should you wish to speak with a staff member please make an appointment by contacting the general office.
We look forward to another great term, working on our campus goals;
2022 A Year of Champions
Improving Student Attendance,
Seating Arrangements based on Student Data,
Fostering pride in our environment-classrooms, corridors and in the yard.
Ms Mary Chiodo and Dr Michael Gruis Campus Principals