NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL TEAM
What an extraordinary term it’s been so far! It’s been lovely to see so many students outside and active during breaks in the unusually warm weather throughout April and the early weeks of May and now we’ve headed straight into a record-breaking cold-snap.
As the mornings cool down, we’d like to remind students and families that there are a wide range of uniform options available to help keep students warm and dry as the weather turns. It remains the expectation that students are dressed in full school uniform. We encourage any families who are experiencing difficulties with this to please contact the school to discuss.
We’ve been very pleased to commence a number of important learning programs in the college in recent weeks. Homework Club has launched on Thursday afternoons, providing time and support for students to complete common assessment tasks and to catch up on work that they may not have completed. We have also commenced our Enhance program for 2025, focussing on providing advance-level skills and knowledge in English and Literacy in Term 2, expanding to other domain areas in the remaining terms this year. Our SoundsWrite program started in recent weeks, providing additional literacy support where needed to our students, helping to further develop crucial skills in reading and writing. We look forward to continuing to expand our learning programs to best meet the needs of all of our students.
As we head into the final weeks of Semester 1, we encourage families to be discussing their child’s assessment tasks and learning activities with them each week. These are visible to families and students on Compass under the Learning Tasks tab. We encourage you to access this with your child and talk through the importance of meeting due dates and task requirements. Our Year 9s will have the added opportunity this semester to take part in subject exams, which we are running for the first time in Week 7. This provides crucial learning in the skills of time management and revision, which students should be practising in the lead-up to the exams.
Events and activities
It’s been very exciting in recent weeks to have Backflips for Bullying presenting to our junior students, highlighting the importance of respectful and considerate behaviours. Our Year 7 students were also delighted to visit the Cosmodome that took residence in our gym in Week 3, helping to bring our Science curriculum to life. In coming weeks, our Year 9 students will have opportunity to take part in City Experience, which provides learning for our students in navigating the challenges of public transport, accessing the resources available in Melbourne and working collaboratively with their peers.
We’re also looking forward to the important steps that our Year 9s will be taking towards their future pathways as the term progresses. Students recently completed their Morrisby Career Profiles, which provide detailed, personalised insights into how students’ skills and interests match with particular careers. The students will be able to meet with a trained interviewer later this term to help them unpack the responses to their Morrisby Profile as we get closer to subject selections for 2026. Further information will follow regarding this process.
Our school sports teams have been participating in in-school training and interschool competitions throughout the term and we’ve been delighted with the commitment and skills shown by students at all year levels. Further reports are available later in this edition of the newsletter.
Upcoming key dates
We encourage all families to check Compass regularly for updates about key events at Mickleham Secondary College. Please be aware of the student free day on Tuesday 10th June following the King’s Birthday Public Holiday on Monday 9th June (Week 8). We’re also looking forward to the Year 8 Japanese excursion at the end of Week 8. Please note that reports will be published in the final week of term.
We hope that you enjoy reading over the range of activities that have been taking place this term.
Cassandra Crévola
Assistant Principal - Inclusion and Pathways