Senior School Report
Message from the Acting Director of Learning
- Mr. Jarrod Johnstone
Students in the Senior School are well into their Semester 2 units, with many VCE students preparing for SACs, and VCAL students working through their Outcomes. Term 3 is a time when students should be careful to stay up-to-date in all their subjects, in addition to regularly revising for assessments and exams. Students will need regular reminders and support from home as they work through these challenging final years of schooling.
Year 12 Coordinator, Miss Nguyen, is currently on leave for personal reasons. Ms Amy Kerwick has been appointed as acting Year Level Coordinator for the remainder of this year. Students and parents can contact Ms Kerwick for all issues concerning Year 12.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Thank you to those parents, guardians and students who attended last week’s parent-teacher interviews. This is a valuable change to strengthen the partnership between home and school. If you were unable to attend, please feel free to contact teachers or Year Level Cordinators to seek feedback on your child’s progress.
ABCN Focus Program
A group of Year 11 girls are taking part in the ABCN Focus program, which gives female student leaders the opportunity to be mentored by senior women in business. These students have spent one afternoon at the PwC building in Southbank as a part of the program, and look forward to 2 more excursions to develop their leadership capabilities this month.
Year 12 First Aid Course
Congratulations to a group of Year 12 students who successfully completed a Level 2 First Aid course during July. As well as providing valuable skills and knowledge, this certification is highly sought after by employers!
Marketing Excursion
Our future entrepreneurs and business leaders were lucky enough to meet some marketing executives to speak to them about their experiences and their career paths, during a visit to Vicinity Centres (the managers of Chadstone Shopping Centre) on Wednesday the 27th of June.
The Business Management and Kidpreneur students enhanced their studies of marketing by hearing about the projects that Vicinity Centres are working on, including the re-branding of the DFO shopping centres and the creation of their new logo.
The students were able to develop their own marketing skills by developing a pitch for a shopping centre for Cranbourne. Congratulations to Yr 11 students, Richard Cheang and Loryanne Faaosofia, who were each awarded ‘Most Likely to be Future CEO’ by the marketing team at Vicinity.
It was a great day and we were very thankful to the team from Vicinity Centres for the time they spent with us, Beacon for providing us with the opportunity, and Mr Clarke for his assistance on the day.
Ms. Laura Good
Business Management and Kidpreneur Teacher
Course Counselling: Year 11 students
Year 11 students are in the process of finalising the second half of their VCE program for 2019. All students are expected to present to a course counselling interview panel on Monday 6th August to discuss their program. In preparation for this interview, students must use CourseSearch on the VTAC website to check they have selected appropriate pre-requisites for their desired courses.
VTAC Applications
The VTAC portal is now open for local Yr 12 students (i.e. not international students) to apply to be accepted into university courses in 2019. Timely applications close late September; a late fee is required if applying after this date. Once registered, students will be able to log into VTAC and change their preferences. Further details will be provided at a VTAC Information session for students on Wednesday 15th August. This will be followed by a session for parents.
Careers & Pathways
Our VCAL students have undertaken a Beacon Foundation High Impact Program called PERFORM, where they have had career pathway conversations with Mentors (Senior Managers) from organisations eg. Accenture, Annex Foods, Carmotive, Vicinity, VFA Learning and William Adams. We thank these Mentors for their time and Beacon for this opportunity.
Our Year 11 students attended DEAKIN University and explored the courses on offer, the prerequisites and accelerated programs. They also learnt that if their ATAR could not get them into a university, they could find an alternative pathway through Deakin. They were given a tour of the university, with some students visiting the Nursing department and others visiting the Film and Media department.
Our VCAL students were also fortunate to attend DARE2B Youth Conference in Moorabbin Town Hall on 26th July, wherein they participated in workshops to explore options beyond school, talk to the exhibitors from TAFEs, Victoria Police, Defence Recruiting, Ambulance Victoria. They tried their hand at being a Barista, as well as a mind, body and soul session in Yoga and mindfulness.
Ms. Geraldine Borgonha
Careers & Pathways Advisor