From the Principal Class Team

Dear Parents and Guardians

Welcome to our final newsletter for Term 3. It has been lovely to feel some warmth in the sun, and to see the blossom appearing on the trees – and to thaw out after the cold of winter. It seemed that one of the coldest days was a few weeks ago when a number of staff faced the dunk tank on Youth Day. I’m sure there are photos in this edition of the fun we had!

Poetry Slam duo take the prize

Congratulations on behalf of the whole school community to Akegma Arok and Shalom Tiatia on being awarded First Prize in this year’s Melbourne Writers’ Festival OutLoud Slam poetry competition.

Akegma wrote the piece, Dear Society, which he and Shalom performed for the judges. It is a wonderful, well deserved recognition of their talents, and of the support they received, particularly from Ms Vicki Bunce.

See the article further on in the newsletter for an update on the exciting new development in their poetry and performance careers.

Athletics champions

Congratulations, also, to all of the students who represented the school in the recent Keilor Division Athletics Carnival. The St Albans Secondary College team, led by Mr Robert Lakovski, took first place among the Keilor Division schools. It was a fabulous recognition of the skills and commitment of our athletes and their coaches, and an excellent back to back with the Division swimming championships earlier in the year.

NAPLAN 2018 results – a snapshot

By now all Year 7 and 9 families should have received your child’s NAPLAN results in the mail. If you have not yet received yours, please contact Ms Jacqui Hunter at the school, and we will follow up on this for you.

Our teachers of Years 7, 8 and 9 English, EAL and Mathematics are currently analysing the results, with a focus on:

• How much growth each student has made from Year 5 to 7 or Year 7 to 9 on each area of the NAPLAN test
• Which elements of each test our students did well on, and which elements presented challenges for them.

Both pieces of information support teachers and leaders to further refine and adjust teaching to support each student’s learning and skill development in Literacy and Numeracy.

In each of the areas tested by NAPLAN (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, and Numeracy), our Year 9 students are improving at a rate that is higher than the State growth. The improvement in Reading was particularly strong this year, as was the sustained improvement in Writing.

The percentage of Year 9 students in the Top 2 Bands in each of the areas is at least equal to, and, in most cases, much higher than the State.

Facilities update

Over the term break, our Facilities Team will be overseeing extensive works to the buildings and grounds. Classrooms and external areas will be given a fresh coat of paint; we will begin work to replace the damaged asphalt; garden beds will be mulched and tidied for the summer months; LED lighting will be installed throughout the school to reduce environmental and financial impact; and work will begin on new locker bays.

Uniform – a reminder

The College Uniform Policy requires that students wear the full uniform at all times, including to and from school, and that it is clean and in good condition.

With this in mind and the warmer months approaching, we would like to remind students and parents of a couple of important points:

• Torn or damaged uniforms cannot be worn. Items of uniform that are in poor condition need to be replaced or repaired.
• The school sports uniform must only be worn to or from school if students have PE in Periods 1 or 6.
• Socks must be white and above the ankle in length.

Thank you for your support of this policy.

Youth Day

Our 2018 Youth Day was a smashing success and a day of celebration for all our students. Run by our VCAL cohort at the end of August, student leaders and teachers at the school held a market day for the student community. Activities included “dunk the teacher” involving many good sported teachers and the principal team, a jumping castle as well as many food and drink stalls. The day celebrates our commitment to young people and the important role they play at our College.  

City Experience

Last week Year 9 students travelled into the city every day to explore and research city life. Students completed surveys, explored key sights of Melbourne and were involved in a range of fun and exciting activities. Organised by the Humanities team under the leadership of Kiran Pannu, City Experience continues to be a significant event in our school calendar, helping to build the capacity of our Middle School students, fostering their independence and understanding of our great city Melbourne and the world we live in. Our students’ behaviour was exemplary in the city representing our College with pride. We thank them for their participation and the staff of the College for organising such a successful event.

R U Ok Day

R U OK Day is about reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and about starting meaningful dialogue to educate about suicide prevention with all members of our school community. To that end our Wellbeing and VCAL Teams organised a school event last week to bring awareness to this important issue. They organised a BBQ, live music, wellbeing activities, visitors to the school from Brimbank Youth Services to support students and, as always, did a sensational job in supporting our school community.

R U OK day encourages 4 simple steps

1. Are you Ok? – Ask the question
2. Listen without judgement
3. Encourage action
4. Check in.

Click here for more information on: How to Ask

Holiday programs

There are a range of fantastic holiday programs running across the upcoming break for students and families to be involved in. These include courses as well as arts and sporting activities. For more information, please check out the Compass Parent Portal news feed. It’s a great way for students to learn some skills, meet new people and have some extra fun over the break in a safe and positive environment.