Principal Team Report

Principal Team Report

Dear Mullauna Community,

Within the space of just a few short weeks, an enormous amount of activity takes place within the College.

GERMANY EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Recently we farewelled our Principal, Harry Ruff and our Head of German, Laura Durham who are accompanying 9 of our students, along with Vermont Secondary College on the German Exchange to our sister school IGS Kaufungen. We are very fortunate that the current conflict in the middle east has not impacted on this wonderful and much anticipated learning opportunity for our students. We wish them all a safe and enjoyable trip.

PRESENTATION BALL

This past week we also celebrated with students and families attending the Presentation Ball where we witnessed the fruits of many hours of dance rehearsals for the 34 couples presented on the evening. My thanks to staff members, Teagan Dockeary and Isobel Kiefel for organising such a wonderful event. 

YR 10 TAFE TASTERS

We have had a group of Year 10 students attend a series of TAFE taster workshops hosted by Swinburne TAFE where they experienced everything from welding to childcare in order to assist their future pathway planning. Thankyou to Nik Smith and Helen Bowker from our Careers Department for organising these events.

SONGMAKERS INCURSION

A group of music students attended a 2 day ‘song makers’ workshop to develop their professional song writing and recording skills which was held onsite and supported by our Head of Performing Arts, Peter Brodie and our Contemporary Music Program teacher, Harrison Kolevich.

INSTAGRAM

The college is now pleased to replicate our Facebook socials and updates now on Instagram. Please follow for updates and good news stories.

INTERSCHOOL SPORT

We have had many days of division sport for all year levels over recent weeks as well with some teams reaching regional level too. Thank you to our Sport Leader, Rohan Spong for organising each of these days that involves hundreds of students, many staff and a convoy of hire buses. We are also pleased to see the number of senior students giving up their time to support junior students by taking on coaching (and umpiring) roles. This is in addition to our already strong Student Leadership and Peer Support programs.

NAPLAN

We have also recently undertaken the annual NAPLAN testing for years 7 and 9, lead by our Leading Teacher Literacy, Tamsin Davidson and Leading Teacher Numeracy, Trevor Barkla. Whilst the first day of testing was a challenge with some technology causing disruptions across the entire country, the remainder of the testing days ran smoothly. We look forward to reviewing the data when it becomes available later in the year as it assists us plan for student needs.

In addition to these events, there has also been countless classroom-based excursions and incursions throughout the term that supports the learning program within each subject. A particular favourite of mine is the Top Arts, Top Design and Top Screen events that showcase the high performing VCE visual arts work from the previous years’ students. Mullauna Secondary College has a long history of nurturing students to achieve success at this level which is evident at our annual Art Show later this year.

COMPASS CONSENT REMINDER

Just a reminder to parents and caregivers that where an event requires consent and payment there is a fixed deadline published on Compass. Due to an increase in events across the college, we have also recently seen an increase in requests to provide consent/payment after the deadline has passed and the event is now closed. Unfortunately, we are unable to facilitate such requests as each event requires several different steps performed by a number of different staff members to ensure we meet Department of Education requirements for risk management, transport and finances. Making changes after the event has closed undermines this process.

If you are having trouble providing online consent/payment through Compass, please contact the event organiser or one of our friendly General Office staff prior to the event deadline to assist with processing.

We continue to look forward to providing our students with such diverse and engaging opportunities throughout each term.

CHILD SAFETY

Child safety and wellbeing at Mullauna Secondary College: information for families and the school community

Mullauna Secondary College is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe. 

Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our school website.

We are committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. Our students and families are important partners in this process and we welcome your feedback on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing. 

If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Michael Bray, Assistant Principal via michael.bray@education.vic.gov.au 

E-BIKE 🚲 AND E-SCOOTER 🛴 SAFETY

What a segue 😉 - e-bike and e-scooter safety at Mullauna Secondary College: important information for families and the school community

Mullauna Secondary College would like to continue to encourage students riding to and from school, albeit safely. 

We have noticed an increase in students riding e-scooters in the car park at peak times when there are many other vehicles arriving and leaving. As this is a shared space and can be busy, we would like students who are riding electric bikes or scooters as well as regular bikes and scooters be very aware of both vehicles and pedestrians around you at all times.

We ask that over the break, families take an opportunity to talk to their children, our students about safe and responsible riding on roads and on shared walkways, including footpaths in and around the school.

We have some links and information that may assist.

Victoria Police – Electric bike (e-bike) safety

Victoria Police – Electric powered scooters (e-scooters) 

BUILDING WORKS UPDATE

Progress is going along well with the new Stage 2 STEM building. All earth works have been completed and all ground plumbing and electrical services completed with concreting works commencing this week. Over the school holidays, further works continue on the preparation of the elevator shaft, relocation of fire services and prep for construction.

During the school holidays, the usual improvements and upgrades will occur around the college. This includes steam cleaning of all carpets, interior painting, the installation of further acoustic panels and fans in the stadium, rectification works on the VCE Centre roof and gutters, footpath high pressure cleaning and the installation of heating & cooling in the stadium weights room.

TERM 1 SPORT RECAP

It has been a very busy term 1 of interschool sport with five Mullum Division sport days and an Eastern Metropolitan Region (EMR) representative day for the intermediate boys and intermediate girls volleyball teams. Congratulations to these teams on winning the Mullum Division volleyball championships.  Other teams to win Mullum Division championships were Intermediate Cricket, Year 7 girls volleyball, Year 8 girls volleyball and Year 7 girls tennis. We congratulate these teams who will be invited to the EMR championships in term 4.

Congratulations also to all students who participated in the sport program during term 1.  Sport is a great way to develop resilience, positive relationships and empathy and has a positive impact on your physical and mental health.

Thank you to our student umpires who attended year 7 and year 8 volleyball. Thank you to our student leaders who spent lunchtimes coaching our junior teams and supported the teams on their event days.

The sport program could not operate without staff volunteering to work beyond their current agreed workloads.  Thank you to the staff who assisted with administration and organisation, lunchtime training, team organisation, early morning preparation, event supervision and post-event pack-up and administration. Your efforts have contributed to a successful term 1 of inter-school sport. Without you, we would not have a sport program!

STUDENT LEARNING CONFERENCES

It was fantastic to see so many parents and caregivers, along with students attend the Student Learning Conferences this week. Although we increased each interview time by a couple of minutes to allow a deeper conversation, we still facilitated close to 1000 bookings throughout the day.  We hope that you enjoyed the opportunity to talk about your child’s learning as much as our staff did. 

The hybrid model of on-site face to face meetings followed by online meetings using WEBEX, appears to be the best model to provide flexibility for busy families. Should you have any follow up questions for teachers, please do not hesitate to email them directly via Compass.

YR 8 MEDIEVAL DAY

Our Year 8s enjoyed a leap back in time today, to the life of feudal times. Check Facebook for images.

2026 MULLAUNA OPEN NIGHT

Our Mullauna families may wish to share the information of the upcoming Open Night with other potential primary school families. We look forward to welcoming potential students and their families to the 2026 Open Night on Thursday 30 April. The event commences with the Principal address at 6pm in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC). See our website for more info or contact the college.

Warm regards,

Harry Ruff, Jeff McMillin and Michael Bray 

The MSC Principal Team 

Term 2 Student-free Days – please note for your family planners:

• Friday 12th June – Assessment & reporting Day (student free)

Term 2            20 April to 26 June

• Monday 20th April – Term 2 commences
• Thursday 23rd April – whole-school Athletics Carnival
• Friday 24th April – MSC ANZAC assembly (Period 4)
• Saturday 25th April – ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Halliday Park – please join us!
• Thursday 30 April – Open Night!
• Tuesday 19th May – School Council onsite
• Thursday 4 June – debut / mid-year concert
• Monday 8th June – King’s Birthday public holiday
• Friday 12th June – Assessment & reporting Day (student free)
• Monday 15th June – Semester Two subjects/units commence
• Tuesday 16th June – School Council online
• Thursday 18th June - 6pm to 8pm 2027 Subject Expo &Information Night for current Year 9 & 10 students and families
• Saturday 20 June – Yr 10/11 Central Australia tour commences
• Friday 26 June – last day term 2