From the Principal

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope your week has been fantastic.

Student forums have begun this week and will continue throughout this term. I encourage any student wishing to have a voice about Racism to join a forum. Year level leaders will organise times and invite students to attend. A whole school approach will be implemented next term during CONNECT.

This week, we welcome Simone Henry to the Mornington Secondary College community. Simone has a wealth of experience in the area of Inclusion and will be working with students in class.

This week, I continue to go into classes, talking to students about their learning. Yesterday, I listened to a Year 12 Art student present a critique on the use of the Creative Practice from Unit 3 whilst other students provided feedback. It was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the self-reflection and the creative way the artwork was being explained. I also listened to students talk about Artificial Intelligence. Last week, a highlight was engaging in conversation about Japan.

On Saturday night, the Victorian State Aerobics finals were held at Rowville Secondary College. Team Boultify came in 2nd place and now head to the Nationals in Adelaide. Congratulations to the team, Kate Atkinson and Indie Jowett for their coaching. Well done to teams, Electric Boults and Lightning Boults for an excellent performance.

The Year 12 students will dance the night away tonight, at their annual Fancy Dress, held at the Frankston Arts Centre. I am certain it will be a fantastic night.

Testing for students has been a feature this week, with students in Yrs. 7-9 participating in PAT testing - Literacy and Numeracy and students in Yrs. 10-11 completing exams.

Friday this week is scheduled as a pupil free day. Teachers will be engaged in assessment and reporting, whilst the education support staff will spend their day catching up on work. This will occur in between internet outages, due to upgrades. Phones may be problematic. If you cannot speak to someone on the phone, please email via compass or the school’s email address and will be responded to as quickly as possible, once the internet is up and running.

Please enjoy the long weekend and thank you for your support.

Linda Stanton

Principal

Important Dates

JUNE

01/06/23 - 8/06/23 | Exams and PAT testing

08/06/23 | Year 12 Fancy Dress

09/06/23 | Staff assessment and reporting - Student free day

12/06/23 | Kings Birthday Public Holiday - Student free day

15/06/23 | GAT day

20/06/23 | Course Information Evening

23/06/23 | Last day of Term 2 - School ends at 2.30pm

JULY

10/07/23 | First day of Term 3

Note: As you will be aware the 9th of June is a student free day to allow staff to complete assessments and write reports. The front office will also be closed on this day as we are performing a network upgrade which will disable phones and the internet for the day.

Don't forget to look on compass for sport sign ups, excursions and any other information sent to students and parents.

Below is a link to help guide you in your use of compass.

https://mornsc.vic.edu.au/for-parents/compass-parent-guide/

Middle School

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week I wanted to let you know about our numeracy focus and what is happening in Maths in Middle school. Our fantastic team of Maths teachers are working very hard teaching numeracy concepts and skills to improve student understanding, thinking and application.

Students recently completed the PAT testing (Progressive Achievement Test) which is a standardised test that Year 7 to 9 students complete each semester. I am very pleased to say that we have seen some fantastic learning growth overall in numeracy in the Year 7 and 8 cohort.

Our Year 7 and 8 Maths teachers have had professional Development and learning by a Maths coach to engage and encourage students in multiplicative thinking. Ms Reddy the Maths and Numeracy Leading Teacher across the college explains that using multiplicative thinking is a process whereby we think about things mathematically and have an ability to recognise and solve a range of problems involving multiplication or division including direct and indirect proportion.

Here is a DET example:

A student developing multiplicative thinking will move from a problem such as:

3 bags of sweets, 8 sweets in each bag. How many sweets altogether?

To problems such as:

Julie bought a dress in an end-of-season sale for $49.35. The original price was covered by a 30% off sticker but the sign on the rack said, “Now an additional 15% off already reduced prices”. How could she work out how much she had saved? What percentage of the original cost did she end up paying?

Year 7 students have just completed a unit of work on probability. The students used dice and cards to explore the difference between theoretical and experimental probability.

Year 8 students have been focusing on statistics and have been using the Dollar Street website to investigate families and their incomes from around the world and then have had to present their findings to the class and this has included the mean, median, mode and range.

Year 9 students have just been introduced to trigonometry to find the unknown side lengths and unknown angles in triangles.

We encourage all students to have their calculators with them in all Maths classes. If you would like more information regarding Multiplicative Thinking; please feel free to contact Mrs Stacee Reddy.

Wishing you a great week.

Denise Leggett

Middle School Assistant Principal

Senior School

To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,

I wanted to start this week’s edition of my report by commending the over-whelming majority of Year 10 and 11 students for their attitude towards their exams. The behaviour, uniform and attentiveness has been fantastic, and students will have gained some valuable insights into the effectiveness of their current study skills. I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Year 10 and 11 Coordination Teams, led by Jake Uhlenberg and Dr Jasmine Keough respectively, in running the exam periods and following up with exam clashes, absences and other matters. They have their teams working very effectively to make sure students have an exam period that will benefit them, inform future pathways, and hopefully build their self-confidence.

From next week, our Year 11s and 12s move quickly into Unit 2 and 4 respectively, while our Year 10s will complete their final weeks of Semester 1 subjects before moving into new classes in Semester 2. I look forward to students reflecting on their efforts in the first half of the year, celebrating their wins and strengths, while also noting areas for growth and then working towards achieving their goals. The MSC course-counselling process will commence in week 9 (with a parent information night for current Year 9 and 10 students) and we use a data-based approach to looking at student strengths and suitability for programs and pathways. Attendance, academic and behavioural is all considered as evidence, so it’s important for students to ensure they are trying their best in these areas each day at school.

Highlights from this week include:

Year 10

The Year 10 exam period has run efficiently and effectively and by the time this is released, students will have finished their final exams for the semester and will hopefully enjoy the weekend ahead as a well-earned reward.

We have placed a lot of expectations on our students this week to sit, be silent and complete their exams to the best of their ability, and this has definitely been a challenge for some, and we appreciate their great effort. We hope that these have been a good example for what students intending to complete a VCE-ATAR pathway will experience throughout 2024 and 2025.

Year 11

The Year 11 students are almost finishing their midyear exams. I am pleased to report that students have been proactive with their equipment and behaved impeccably. Midyear exams in Year 11 are excellent practice for the VCE exams at the end of Year 12. Attendance has been good and students in the weekly winning homegroups get little prizes to celebrate their achievement. Our Positive Cultures competitions for the VM and ATAR students are running well with weekly winners. It has been wonderful to see the heart-warming comments that students have written about each other. These comments are posted on the Year 11 Common Room wall. Year 12 jackets are being organised - we are just waiting on the uniform shop to put the link in.

Year 12

On Tuesday this week, the entire Year 12 cohort attended an excursion off site called Teenage Road Accident Group (TRAG). TRAG is a local program that aims to reduce incidences of road trauma in this age group by supporting our students to make safe choices while on the road. The program is run and presented by people who have had to deal with the consequences of road trauma first hand, including:

Victoria Police
CFA
Ambulance Victoria
SES
Victims of road trauma as well as family members who have lost loved ones.

It is a very confronting experience for students but a message that is essential to be delivered.

Our students did us so proud amongst seven other local schools. One of the presenters from the event even rang the school to commend the incredibly well mannered, appreciative and empathetic students we have at Mornington Secondary College. We could not have been prouder of just how well our students conducted themselves in such an emotional and sensitive environment. A true testament to them as people.

Nick Evans

Senior School Assistant Principal

Students making the grade.

Progress checks are now available for students and parents on COMPASS. It’s a great time to have a conversation with your child about how they are going in each of their subjects. Students have recently set goals for each subject and a discussion at home around this is the best way to help them work towards achieving those goals.

So far this year teachers have posted 32,000 “Green” posts for students. These acknowledge when a student is doing the right thing as part of their classwork. To find the green posts for your child simply log into COMPASS the click on the student’s profile.

Kind regards,

Mike Parker

Assistant Principal

Staff profiles

Scott Kirkby

Hi, my name is Scott Kirkby and I started at Mornington Secondary College this year as Team Leader- Year 12. I have really enjoyed my time here and the welcoming students, families, and staff and feel very lucky to have such a strong team in Victoria and Evangeline.

I have been teaching for 15 years and in formal leadership roles for 10 years. My roles have varied but most have been in the areas of senior years, and I have managed VCE and VM students for eight years.

My initial teaching methods are Physical Education and English, but I have since completed a Master’s in Human Resource management and a Certificate IV in Teaching and Assessment, meaning I teach a wide variety of subjects. Currently I am teaching in the Vocational Major stream at Mornington.

My wife and I have two children, three and one year old, and two Shih tzu x Toy poodle dogs. Teaching is in my family, with both my grandmothers having been teachers as well as my parents and my wife is a primary teacher. I have always enjoyed helping people and education seemed like the best way to help and support people to achieve their goals in life. In my ‘spare’ time I like to garden, and lift weights. Both are at either ends of the relaxing spectrum for me but both rewarding.

I am thrilled to be part of the Mornington Secondary community and feel honoured to be able to guide young people in their final year of schooling.

Evangeline Romage

My name is Evangeline Romage, and this is my fourth year at Mornington Secondary College. This is my second year in coordination. I am currently a Year 12 Coordinator and was Year 11 Coordinator last year. I have enjoyed following this cohort up and building relationships with the students, as well as watching them grow. I am History and Literature trained and currently teach VCE English and Literacy.

I enjoy working at Mornington Secondary College and being part of such a rich and vibrant community. I am passionate about working in the Senior School and helping students achieve their best, and become successful, twenty first century learners ready for the outside world.

In my spare time I enjoy pilates, reading and am currently the star goalkeeper for my netball club, Carrum Patterson Lakes FNC.

Victoria Milner

My name is Victoria Milner and I am part of the Year 12 Team which I thoroughly enjoy. I started teaching in 1981 and I have been at Mornington Secondary College for over twenty years.

During my teaching career, I have taught English, English Language, History, Geography, Business Management, Politics, Health Education and Legal Studies. I have enjoyed teaching all these subjects. I have nearly twenty years’ experience as a Year Level Coordinator and have had this role in several schools. I have been a Year Level Coordinator at every level at Mornington Secondary College.

Interacting with students in Year 12 this year is a real standout in my career. I value the positive relationships that I have developed with colleagues and with students. My ambition each year is to help my students achieve their best, to value learning, become lifelong learners and to become valued members of the community. 2023 is a real highlight for me as I am working with a great team and with a fantastic group of students.

Evaluate Education Webinars

Please use this link to register: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/au/schoolwebinar

Bridging the Gap program at Mornington Library

The students have nearly completed 10 sessions of” Bridging the Gap” at Mornington Library. The program was aimed to bring two generations together through technology. The seniors needed help ranging from mobile phones, iPads, smart watches, emails, printing, skype and the list goes on. The students had a chance to develop their social, communication and problem solving skills which have suffered from Covid times, as well as making friends for life.

To date we are very proud to announce that we have looked after 215 seniors, with their tech problems at Mornington Library. The seniors all kindly completed a survey so we could try and improve our service and we are proud to announce that 98% of our customers gave us five stars and I could not disagree. The students were polite, respectful, always willing to listen and help in whatever way they could. They knew the seniors by name and learned lots about their life. On occasions, we were blessed to meet a horse rider who starred in “The Man from Snowy River,” and another of our customers actually owns the library and taught us all about the history of the building.

After 10 sessions, students are awarded a certificate which shows that they have volunteered in the community but also through the Youngster program they now have access to many free courses and can get paid work with Youngster.

Some of our students feel confident enough to go into age care homes to help residents with their technology problems. Age care homes desperately want this service and we would love to be able to oblige.

I would clearly like to thank and congratulate my Vocational Major class as they clearly represented our school’s values. They identified a niche in the community and went above and beyond to meet the needs of our beautiful seniors in the community.

Follow the below link to see a video of a couple talking about the experience.

https://mornsc.vic.edu.au/newsandevents/bridging-the-gap-at-mornington-library/

Anne-Marie Burnet

State Aerobic Success

We had a very successful night at the State Aerobic Championship on Saturday and couldn’t be prouder of the three teams that competed. The competition was so strong, with a whopping 17 teams from across Victoria competing in our section, with Mornington Secondary College being the only Government team in our section.

Team Electric Boults have gelled so well as a team and have made some great bonds and friendships, they managed a score of 67.60 and came in in 14th place.

Team Lightning Boults came in at 13th place with a score of 67.80. Six out of the eight students who make up this team have never competed in school aerobics before, and they smashed their routine!

Team Boultify came in in 2nd place with a score of 83.30! This team are insanely good and have really stepped up in terms of leadership and commitment to the squad. They are made up of Year 8’s, 9’s, 10’s and 11’s and have really grown as a group, very cool to watch! Annnnnnnnnnd they are off to Nationals!!! Boultify will compete at the Nationals Aerobics Championship being held in Adelaide in August, they are thrilled!

Lastly, a shout out to our amazing Indi Jowett, an absolute coaching legend who has incredible vision, who always shows great initiative and professionalism and is the most amazing mentor and role model to our students. She gives up hours and hours of her own time and expects nothing in return, she really is an absolute superstar, and the program wouldn’t be what it is without her!

Kate Atkinson

Health and Physical Education Teacher

Positive Quotes for the week

Just wanted to let you know that both myself and my husband took advantage of the program at Mornington Library last month. We found the experience very helpful and worthwhile and the teenagers so polite and understanding, as well as being very patient. We would definitely attend again if you were to run another program in the future.

Regards, Sandra

I just want to thank you for how quickly you answer the phones. You must be so busy in the office. I really appreciate how prompt you are and helpful. Steve.

On behalf of the Mornington Lions Club, I would like to express our thanks to Mornington Secondary College for assisting us, with the advertising, of our Annual Charity Bookfair fundraiser.

We are most appreciative of your contribution, of displaying our advertising poster, on your electronic signage.

You have undoubtedly helped us to promote our Bookfair, by attracting much community attention, with your sign, for this event.

In addition you have assisted us in maintaining our continued fund-raising endeavours, enabling us to continue our Community Charity work.

Mornington Lions Club members value your support.

Thanking you.

Kind regards, Denise

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