EDUCATIONAL

MYLNs 

It is now widely understood that the underlying difficulty for students with a reading disorder (previously known as dyslexia) is a difficulty with language. Specifically, students with a reading disorder tend to have a difficulty in one aspect of language – phonological awareness.  

Really, a reading disorder should probably be called a phonological disorder as the difficulty with reading is as a result of the difficulties with understanding that words are made up of different sounds.  For example, knowing that "ph" makes a "ff" sound -- such as in "dolphin". 

Dyslexia resources: 

• Text to speech
• The 44 Sounds

Kind regards, 

Sheridan Graham & Jess Rowbottom 

Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS)

Canvas

Access to Canvas now available to new families

All parents/carers of Surf Coast Secondary College students should now have access to Canvas. Full instructions on how to activate your account. Please note: only families new to Surf Coast Secondary College in 2021 need to undertake this process, as all 2020 accounts remain active.

What is Canvas?

Canvas was introduced in 2020 as the SCSC Learning Management System (LMS). It is a cloud-based application which enables students and teachers to access the tools they need for learning and teaching wherever they are. It also enables parents/carers to be enrolled as an observer thereby providing access to student results, feedback, assessment tasks and course materials.

This system works alongside our current Student Information System (SIS), Compass, which is used for College administration such as roll marking, event permissions, communications, reporting etc.

We hope this increases the frequency and ease in which our families are connected to the learning their student is undertaking. All learning tasks, student submissions and feedback are visible in real time.

Important information to note about your Canvas access

• As the parent/carer login process is different from students, links within notifications will take you to an error page.

Please only log-in via https://surfcoastsecondarycollege.instructure.com/login/canvas or the App instead of clicking notification links.

• only email addresses registered with Compass will work in this process. If you receive notifications from Compass in your email, this is the email to use. If you do not have an email registered with the school, please contact our friendly Administration Team via email surf.coast.sc@education.vic.gov.au.
• your account name will appear as your child’s name. If you have multiple students enrolled at SCSC just one of your enrolled child’s name will be associated with your account, but you will still have access to all children. This is to protect the privacy of parents/carers, as only emails are associated with the account.
• Canvas is used to provide learning tasks and feedback, our official reporting tool remains Compass.
• further support can be found at the links below:
  Canvas Instructions
  Tech Support Padlet - Support Videos and Articles.

If you are having trouble accessing your account, please contact our IT office via itsupport@scsc.vic.edu.au

Shaun Miller

Digital Learning Specialist

Positive Climate for Learning

The Berry Street Educational Model (BSEM) explores the strengths that form the character of our students and supports them to form individualised goals. Gratitude is a key component of character building, and supports our young people to be aware of and appreciate the good things in their lives. At SCSC, we endeavour to teach a sense of gratitude through actions, experiences and connection to our school community. 

As part of the VCAL program, Abigail M and past student Lucia G completed a project in 2020 that involved the development of this wonderful gratitude journal.

“In our 2020 ‘Improving Communities’ VCAL project we explored social issues. It became clear that Mental Health has a major impact upon teenagers within our community. Similar to physical health, it is important that we use strategies to manage and take care of our mental health and wellbeing. We explored different types of brain science and resources for how to rewire your brain for a positive mindset. As a cohort we used a gratitude journal daily developed by the Wholistic Psychologist. From our experience we found that this has many benefits for students such as a place to put our thoughts, reflect on our behaviour and set goals to make positive changes. Lucia G and myself decided to make our own student friendly gratitude journal with simplified language and drawings that students from Years 7-12 could easily understand and respond to.” 

CLICK HERE to view the gratitude journal.

Thank you,

Abigail M

Senior School Workshops

Senior school workshops started last week and aim to provide extra support for our students academic outcomes and wellbeing as they complete their VCE/VCAL certificate. 

Students were able to attend (in person or via online Google Meet) a session that helped them balance all of the commitments in their life, focusing on the difference between study and homework, requirements for study outside of school and dedicating time for self care, family and hobbies/employment. They completed their first weekly plan and learnt it’s okay to be flexible but they need to make themselves accountable!

Next weeks workshop will be a hands on workshop supporting students who need to improve their handwriting! This is not only an important life skill, but essential for student outcomes in exams and assessment. Tune in online or in person! 

If you want any previous resources or recordings of the sessions or have suggestions for future topics, feel free to get in contact with me via email (Lara.Campbell@education.vic.gov.au)

Kind regards,

Lara Campbell

Year 11 - 12 Sub-school Leader

Geelong Tech School

Our school partners with the Geelong Tech School giving our students and teachers access to innovative technologies and STEM learning programs.

The Geelong Tech School is an amazing ‘Technology Hub’ which compliments the education delivered by partner secondary schools through providing access to the latest technologies, state-of-the-art facilities and innovative learning programs linked to industry. The Geelong Tech School brings together the worlds of work and study to help prepare secondary students for the future.

Invitation to Young Minds, Emerging Technology, Future Focus

You can see local secondary school students showcase their amazing ideas and how students are developing skills in CAD design, 3D printing, electronics, laser cutting, coding, robotics, creating in VR and many other technologies.

Date & Time:

Tuesday 23 March 5:30pm – 7:30pm.

Geelong Tech School - Level 2, K Building, The Gordon, Latrobe Terrace, Geelong.

This is a FREE event and RSVP’s are essential Click Here to reserve your spot.

Invitation to an evening with ‘Steve Sammartino’ 

Steve Sammartino, Australia’s leading futurist is an acclaimed writer, highly respected media commentator and a technology investor. His high-energy presentation will change the way you look at the world. Steve put a toy shuttle into earth’s orbit and is currently building the world’s most modern house. Steve pushes the boundaries to see what can be achieved by experimenting, prototyping and testing to see what is possible, placing us all in a better position when challenges arise. The Geelong Tech School will be on show with local secondary students showcasing possibilities.

Day & Time:

Thursday 25 March 5:30pm.

Geelong Tech School – Level 2, K Building, The Gordon, Latrobe Terrace, Geelong.

This is a FREE event and RSVP’s are essential Click Here to reserve your spot.

These events are part of Geelong Design Week 2021, an initiative of Geelong UNESCO City of Design and the City of Greater Geelong.