Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Term 2 and the first half of Term 3 has been jam packed full of learning, fun and extra-curricular events including inter-school sports, incursions, excursions and, of course, the school production. Students have been pushing themselves in their studies to ensure that they are learning as much as possible and I encourage them all to continue to keep striving for their personal best.

Year 7

The Year 7s have taken part in a number of incursions and excursions that have added to the rich and extensive curriculum we offer at Mordialloc College. Students were lucky enough to have the Chinese Museum come to the school and run an incursion. They completed activities based around inventions and items of cultural significance. They participated in traditional Chinese dancing and managed to scream the gym down with their accompanying commands.

Year 7 SEAL students had the opportunity to take part in the Star Lab Incursion, which came to our school and set up a mobile planetarium to assist them in their studies of the solar system, allowing them to be able to visualise the planets and galaxies that make up our solar system.

Students caught the train into the city and went through Melbourne Aquarium on a guided tour with a focus on classification of animals. Students had been studying the different levels of classification and the ways we classify animals based on set guidelines. They loved trying to classify the different rays and sharks swimming around the big tank. They met (through glass) a 50 year old crocodile and got to touch items in the touch tank.

We had an incursion from author Scott Norton in relation to novel study and increasing their ability to create interesting and compelling narratives. The students listened to Scott discuss his journey and talk about his experiences.

The Year 7 Drumming Incursion was absolutely amazing!! The lovely host was engaging and really drew the crowd in through his smiley face and his enthusiastic rhythm. Students used a range of drums and percussion instruments. It was loud, fun and the kids left the LC with a bop in their step.

Year 8

Like the Year 7s, the Year 8s have taken part in a range of fun learning opportunities recently. Each student had the opportunity to attend a LOTE movie. All of the French students went to ACMI to watch the French movie, The School of Life, while the Japanese students saw Lu over the Wall.

The following is Ashleigh McCulloch’s report about the Japanese excursion:

On the exciting day of Thursday 9 August, we all rushed to school to attend the Japanese Movie Excursion. Most of the Japanese students in Year 8 went and we all had an amazing time.

When we arrived at school we marked the roll and began to walk to the train station. Once we arrived at the station we got on the train and settled in for the long train ride. We read our books, played games or just chatted to the people around us. Counting down all the stops, we finally got to Flinders Street Station. We tapped our mykis off and walked across the road to Federation Square. We sat on the steps for about half an hour, eating snacks and getting excited for the movie we had come to see. Once we gathered up our belongings we walked to the ACMI Theatre and waited to be let into the cinema. There were many other schools going, so it was a huge cinema. We found our seats and watched the advertisements on the humongous screen.

After a while, the movie started. We watched the fabulous Japanese film with no disruptions. I think most people enjoyed it and it seemed as though the other schools did, too. It was a great movie about a mermaid becoming friends with the frightened humans and her dreams coming true.

After the movie because we were well behaved and absolutely starving, we walked across the road towards Southgate Food Court to buy and eat some lunch. We were given about half an hour to an hour to have some food from home, buy some food, or go to the toilet.

Later, we went outside and looked at the view while waiting for everyone to catch up. We tiredly walked over to Flinders Street Station to catch the train home.

Overall, the excursion was amazing!! It was filled with enjoyment, happiness, responsibility and I'm sure everyone agrees that it was one of the highlights of the year.

Students also have been on an excursion to Science Works where they visited the planetarium and high voltage room. Both of these linked in with the topics of energy transfer and transformation which were being covered in Discovery at the time and aided in the creation of products for their Marketing Madness projects.

The Marketing Madness expo day was a huge success, with a large number of parents, carers and other loved ones viewing the great work that the Year 8 cohort had created.

There are plenty of upcoming events that the Year 8s have to look forward to including the SEAL trip to Soverign Hill and Year 8 disco, which was started last year and will be even bigger and better this year. So please keep an ear out for the information regarding this event in the upcoming weeks.

Year 9

The Year 9 students have been offered a large range of incursions over the last few months aimed at keeping them safe as well as expanding their knowledge in a range of topics.

Each Year 9 student has attended the Aware drug and alcohol program where the Victorian Police Drug Taskforce focused on harm reduction and continuing to further our Year 9s education around alcohol and other drugs.

Two members of Brainstorm Productions presented information to the Year 9s on Cyber safety. This was done in the form of a stage show that emulated a video game. The presentation style was refreshingly different, with many students finding it engaging and expressing the importance of cyber safety to classroom teachers after they had seen the performance.

Three presenters also ran an incursion for Year 9 English based on World War 1 poetry. They read the poetry then hosted sessions where they assisted students to break down the poems to fully comprehend the messages contained within them.

The MEX 2.0 program has continued over the last term and a half, giving many students an opportunity to attend the City Experience and learn valuable skills in the community placements undertaken.

Late in Term 2 the Year 9 students were invited to the senior school subject expo, where they learned about the subjects and pathways available to them at Mordialloc College from next year onwards. Shortly after the expo the Year 9s took part in course counselling to ensure they chose subjects and pathways for Year 10 that are relevant and interesting for their future.

This is just a short list of some of the opportunities that our Year 9 students have been afforded.

School for Student Leadership for selected year 9 students

Last term, seven students attended the School for Student Leadership at the Snowy River Campus in Marlo. Over that time, they developed a Community Learning Project. This is a project that they plan to implement in their community. They chose to tackle the issue of homelessness in our area by creating care kits including toiletries, water, bandaids, combs, and other basic needs. The following is a short piece written by the students who attended in regards to their project.

During our term at the Snowy River Campus, we decided that we would need to get our community involved with our Community Learning Project on homelessness in order for us to complete it to our personal best. Here is your chance to help us. August is the month that focuses on homelessness around the world. We are trying to collect donations of non-perishable food items, blankets and old clothes to give to Chelsea Care Works. There will be a donation box in the Hub near the door, where you can donate your goods to help someone live better life. Thank you.

Rose, Meike, Hannah, Lauren, Matthew Wade, Matt G and Chris.

Production congratulations

I would like to congratulate all of the cast and crew of the 2018 school production The Adams Family, especially those students from the Middle School. At the time of writing this article the production has not yet been performed but I know, with all of the hard work from the staff and students involved, that it will be a fantastic show. I cannot wait to see the show and read the reviews in upcoming newsletters.

Daniel Williams

Director of Middle School

College Art Show