Koonung Secondary College Newsletter

Middle Years 

Middle Years Update 

The Inter-house Athletics Carnival, held last week, provided an avenue for our students to demonstrate their talents outside of the classroom context. Competition was strong with many personal bests being achieved. House spirit was evident in the manner in which students celebrated and cheered on the success of others throughout the carnival.

It was also great to see students getting involved in the novelty events, but most pleasing of all was their display of house spirit and school pride while enjoying hanging out with friends.  I loved seeing the amazing individual performances and those students giving anything and everything a go.

Sport and House Carnivals are an important part of school life. Participation in a sporting team and/or carnival days helps to instil values such as discipline, focus and sportsmanship, highlighting the importance of teamwork, commitment and hard work.

There have been many studies that outline the importance of sport, each with their own conclusions, however they all share common themes about why sport is important for school-aged children. Sport helps children to develop physically, socially and mentally, enabling them to better cope with the demands of school life by:

  • developing coordination and gross motor skills
  • building self-confidence and self-esteem
  • developing positive attitudes
  • building resilience
  • encouraging teamwork and cohesion
  • supporting discipline
  • reducing the risk of obesity
  • promoting healthy bone and muscle development.

Studies have also found that sport can enhance the learning potential of children. Students who participate in sport while studying have greater expectation of results and can achieve higher marks. They also enjoy a greater connection with their school through building stronger relationships in school (and away from it), and feel a greater attachment to family.

Staff relay team  

 

Middle School Students busy with NAPLAN

There are three major benefits of NAPLAN:

1. Tool to improve schools and teaching  — NAPLAN results enable the identification of problems in the school system over time, and are a means for evaluating potential solutions, from the national level all the way down to individual students.

2. Transparency  — Literacy and numeracy results are made transparent at a national, state and territory, and school level. Parents are also able to see how their children are progressing against an objective national benchmark.

3. Accountability — NAPLAN holds governments and schools accountable for literacy and numeracy results, which is important given the significant financial investment made in them by taxpayers and parents.

 

Year 9 Careers Program

On Wednesday 15 May our Year 9 students participated in Morrisby online testing. CEAV, on behalf of DET,  will deliver Morrisby online testing to all Yr 9 students in Government schools.  Morrisby testing is based around student’s aptitude (verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning, mechanical reasoning, spatial reasoning) and their aspirations.

  • Testing takes approximately 2 hours to complete.
  • All students participate in a 30 minutes follow up interview.  (Ideally with parents)
  • CEAV will provide KSC will with a report on the student findings.

 

 

A homework club is now available to students.  It is held every Monday  in the library from 3:30pm to 4:15pm.

 

 

 

Extra-Curricular Excellence   - Next Generation Academy 

 

Year 8 student Quentin Parry was scouted for the Next Generation Football Academy while at a Yarra Inter-league training session. Quentin plays with the Canterbury Football club.

The Magpies Next Generation Academy is a joint initiative with the AFL aimed at increasing opportunities for young people to learn about and play the game of Australian Rules football.  The program is targeted at Multicultural and Indigenous communities that may not have as many opportunities to be involved in football programs. Whilst the programs focus is on non-traditional football communities, it is available to young players aged 11 – 15 years old with the opportunity to join development academies with the Oakleigh Chargers from 16-18 years of age.

 

Collingwood hosts a variety of regular activities as part of the academy including:

  • Football clinics and skills sessions
  • Game analysis workshops
  • Leadership and Teamwork programs
  • Fitness Testing and training programs
  • Education sessions (ie - Cultural Awareness, Nutrition, Health Living, etc).

Participants are exposed to top-level coaching, first-class facilities and expertise across health, fitness and personal development. 

Quentin’s dream is to be drafted into the AFL, he follows the Geelong football club and is a very talented basketballer as well. The academy starts later in Term 2. Good Luck Quentin!

 

Uniform reminders

  • Blazers are to be worn to and from school
  • Scarves must be plain black or navy  
  • Spray jackets are for PE and Sport Education classes
  • Everyone must be wearing a tie.

 

 

 

Allira Howe

Director of Learning: Middle Years