Senior School Report

Start of the 2021 academic year

The Senior School co-ordination team welcomes back the Year 10, 11 and 12 students for a positive and successful 2021.

The Year 11 and 12 students attended an assembly on their first day of school where the main message to the students was on high expectations with students striving to achieve their best and maximise the opportunities available at Scoresby Secondary College.

Our Year 10 students attended a whole school assembly at the start of their first day and were addressed by Mrs Major and Mr Knight for an inspirational start to their school year.

The Senior School co-ordination team is committed to provide the highest level of service and support to students and parents / carers. The 2021 Senior School team is:

Mr Tony Stirling - Head of Senior School

Mr Tom Santos - Year 10 Coordinator

Mr Jake Barnett - Year 11 Coordinator

Mrs Vicky Manioudakis - Year 12 Coordinator

Parents / guardians are welcome to contact the Senior School team with any questions or concerns throughout the year.

Research has confirmed that secondary school students who regularly complete their homework have higher achievement than those who do not. Parents / carers have a crucial role in helping their child manage homework. This does not necessarily mean helping their child do the homework. It is important for parents / carers to set routines and provide encouragement for homework completion. The college’s suggested minimum time for homework is 10 hours per week for Year 10 students, 15 hours per week for Year 11 students and 20 hours per week for Year 12 students.

Year 12 Camp

Our Year 12 Residential Camp is normally held over 2 days at Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. As Ormond College are still getting themselves organised after the pandemic border closures and shutdowns of last year, they were unable to accommodate our camp this year. As a result, Senior School needed to organise an alternative program for 2021. Day One of the program was held at Waterman Business Centre in Scoresby on Monday 1 February. The college used Waterman Business Centre’s training rooms, boardrooms and grounds for the Year 12 Class of 2021 to participate in a number of workshops and experiences to prepare them for the challenging year ahead.

In the morning, the VCE students participated in VCE English workshops conducted by Ms Christoforou and an expert guest speaker, whilst the VCAL students completed workshops with Mr Stirling to plan and prepare for their leadership, teamwork and self-management requirements in 2021. After lunch, all of the Year 12 students participated in engaging and fun teamwork activities ran by Mr Eddy and the students also participated in a thought-provoking careers and employment workshop conducted by an expert employment consultant. The students were then joined by Mrs Major and Mr Knight where Mrs Major gave a presentation to the group using her wealth of experience and knowledge to help the students identify the attitudes and behaviours to maximise their VCE and VCAL outcomes and to build a positive whole year level culture.

Feedback from the Year 12 students has been extremely positive and the Senior School team congratulate the Class of 2021 for their engagement and enthusiasm in the workshops and activities conducted during the day.

Thank you to Ms. Manioudakis who helped organise the event, to Mr Eddy for running the team building activities and to Ms Haines for helping to supervise the event. Day Two of the program will be organised shortly and arrangements communicated to Year 12 students and parents / carers.

Year 10 Requirements

Year 10 students were given a letter from the college to take home to parents/carers on the Year 10 expectations. It is important that students and parents/carers are aware of the expectations for satisfactory completion of Year 10 and to be eligible for the prestigious Scoresby Secondary College Middle School Certificate.

The attendance requirement for Year 10 is 95% and students are expected to complete all of the set work for their subjects to fully prepare for their future senior school studies.

The Scoresby Secondary College Middle School Certificate provides a comprehensive two-year program to engage students and prepare them for the VCE and VCAL. Like in the VCE and VCAL, students start to design their own course program that will provide breadth and pathways. The introduction of guided choice through electives gives students a sense of ownership of their learning and allows them to pursue their talents.

To achieve the Middle School Certificate, students must meet each of the following requirements:

A satisfactory standard in a minimum of 26 out of 30 semester length subjects across the two years
Minimum attendance of 95%
Participation in core year level programs, such as KIOSC, City Experience, and Respectful Relationships
Satisfactory completion of their careers pathways plan.

The Senior School looks forward to working with the Year 10 students and parents / carers in 2021.

Year 11 and 12 Requirements

At Scoresby Secondary College all students in Years 11 and 12 are required to attend College for a minimum of 95% of scheduled classes to complete the year or the semester unit satisfactorily. Only absences approved by the principal do not contribute to the absence total.

On the day of an assessment task, each student is expected to attend every lesson on his/her timetable prior to the assessment. If a student is ill and unable to attend school on the day of an assessment task, a valid medical certificate must be provided immediately on return to school before the student will be allowed to undertake an alternative assessment task. Medical certificates must be handed to the Head of Senior School (Mr Tony Stirling) for an extension to be granted.

If, in the judgment of the teacher, work submitted by a student in an assessment task and the other work relating to the outcome/s undertaken by the student, e.g. authenticated classwork tasks, does not meet the required standard for satisfactory completion, the student may be offered the opportunity to submit further evidence through a redemption task to redeem an S (Satisfactory) for the outcome/s. The decision to offer the student the opportunity to redeem will be based on the student’s work ethic during the outcome.

Mr Tony Stirling

Head of Senior School

Senior Biology

The Senior School Biology students have definitely hit the ground running this year by completing not only one, but two experiments in one class.

Experiments serve multiple purposes including:

- learning first-hand about the Biological concepts being studied by making observations and collecting data

- working in a team environment to complete a shared goal, and

- practicing laboratory skills that they can then go on to use in tertiary study should they choose to continue studying a Science.

The student’s first practical was to test the effect that various substances had on leakage of pigment from beetroot cells. They were required to collect data, which will then help them complete their Outcome held towards the end of this term.

The second practical was to see how “naked” eggs reacted when placed in different solutions. We call them naked eggs because the shell has been removed using vinegar (which breaks down the calcium carbonate that makes up the egg shell), making them somewhat transparent. The students especially thought this was pretty amazing and enjoyed holding / squishing the eggs and seeing what they looked like after the experiment was completed.

All students were engaged and completed both practicals really well, following correct experimental procedures and asking many questions if they were unsure. Well done Biologists!

Ms Emma Rooke

Biology