Staff Farewells

We would like to farewell the following staff who are moving on to new challenges in 2024:

Sylvie Berthie, Georgina Bradshaw, Peter Brodie, Maria Cagiati, Gina Carroll, Yang Chen, Lisa Chiuchiarelli, Hema Dias, Sima Ebrahimikhalsari, Jordan Graham, Sarah Le Page, Lachlan Marchant, Sarah Millard, Sally Miller, Lana Nunis, and Hai Wei Teo.

Wominjeka

Welcome New Staff

We extend a very warm welcome to our new College staff for 2024. Welcome to the DSC community!

New Staff Spotlight

Our Year 7 and Year 8 students recently engaged in interviews with some of our newest staff members to acquaint themselves better. Utilizing the gathered information, students have crafted summary biographies for your perusal.

Welcome Melanie McGurk to DSC!

Melanie is going to be teaching the subject English at Doncaster Secondary College. The reason why she wanted to work here is because she was a student at this high school and that she loves the wellbeing program that we provide. The thing she likes particularly are that the Wellbeing team helps and supports students and teachers.

In Melanie’s classes students learn about how to annotate books and learn about writing essays. For example, Coraline (that’s the book we’re reading in her class) we learn how to predict the story and find the meaning in the book or graphic novel. Melanie thinks its interesting to create meaning from books. She is also looking to improve students’ literacy skills and foster kids love for English.

Melanie is passionate about reading and social netball in her free time she likes to watch tv shows - the one she is currently interested in is Suits.

Welcome to the DSC team!

- Isabella H. of 7H, Interviewer & Writer

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Meet Anna Price! 😁

Anna is a caring mother of one who has joined Doncaster Secondary College! Anna is a Chemistry and Science teacher! Anna chose DSC because of its inclusivity, great reputation, and awesome community.

One of the things she would like to achieve at DSC is creating a robust chemistry program that will support more year 11 students to progress into year 12 chemistry.

In her science classes students learn about the world around them and how the systems of the world shape their experience on the earth! Overall, Anna is a caring and an awesome person to work with!

- Stefanie C. of 7H, Interviewer & Writer

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Welcome Jarred Wills

Jarred is a Health & Physical Education and Food Technology teacher who has joined the DSC community this year. What attracted him to work at DSC is that it has a good reputation. He wants to be a positive influence on students while at DSC.

What students usually do in his classes is learning how to cook safely in the kitchen and how to live healthily by having a healthy lifestyle. What Jarred is hoping to achieve in his career here at DSC is to contribute to his students' learning and to hopefully lead in the future.

Jarred is passionate about health, fitness, sports (both playing and watching), adventure, and travel.

- Pat J. of 7I, Interviewer & Writer

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Welcome Ms Elkington!

Ms Elkington found herself attracted to Doncaster Secondary College because she was impressed with the care Doncaster Secondary College was displaying towards the students and outer community. In particular, she was inspired by the schools hope to foster and develop students social and emotional skills. As a new teacher, Ms Elkington is excited to join and become an active member of the Doncaster community. Alongside her teaching Ms Elkington hopes to deepen her interaction with students and teachers via camps and other extra activities.

Currently Ms Elkington teaches English and Art. At the moment, she has a year 7 Managing Me class, a year 7 english class and a year 10 art class. She enjoys having the opportunity to teach visual arts and english because she enjoys watching students expressing themselves in different ways. For example, when exploring, sharing and unpacking different views, cultures and time periods, she is interested to see how students can express themselves using the English language. Whereas teaching art gives students the opportunity to use their creative side and visually express themselves by painting, drawing or sculpting their ideas. As a teacher, Ms Elkington believes students are resilient learners, who need to feel comfortable to make mistakes so they can learn from them.

Outside of school, Ms Elkinton has many passions. She loves reading and exploring nature, often capturing and developing the beauty of nature using her photography skills. As a people person, Ms Elkington enjoys catching up with friends within the church community. Currently, Ms Elkington feels she has formed a good connection with 7D and her year 10 art class.

- Cooper B. of 7I, Interviewer & Writer

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In 2024 Doncaster Secondary College has welcomed many new teachers one of whom is Gurpreet (Reet) Kaur.

Reet indicated she was attracted to working at DSC primarily because of the structured learning it promotes. Reet strongly believes in our rules and regulations as well as our well-defined entry routines which support students in learning to their fullest capacity. Reet teaches year 7&8 Maths and Science making sure to include hands-on activities in her classes.

In these first few weeks at school, she has taught students the Science behind parachutes, how to write a scientific report and many other engaging topics. Reet likes to teach children how to link knowledge they learn from her classes with real world problems. Maths and Science interest Reet as she likes to be able to relate her teachings to real life concepts. She suggests that Science aids in critical thinking and decision making as well as cooking.

Reet has enjoyed helping year sevens in their transition to high school, making it a smooth process which will ready them for their later years in secondary school. Reet is hoping to add more problem-based learning to many classes around the school. She is also looking forward to teaching senior classes and aiding them in their final few years of school.

Reet is passionate about playing badminton, going on nature walks, and spending time with her family. We welcome Reet to our Doncaster Secondary College community.

- Sophia A. of 8E, Interviewer & Writer

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Meet Joyce Wong!

Miss Wong is a Year 8 Art Teacher and a Year 9 Myself Teacher. She was attracted to work at DSC because she had known someone who had graduated from this school who had a great zest for life, and she also had heard many great things about the school.

The subject she teaches is Art, which includes exhibitions, art making, and VCD. She enjoys learning the differences in students approaches to doing art, and also likes teaching the history of art. Miss Wong loves watching students grow in their capabilities, and being able to help students do this.

She is looking forward to teaching at this school, and in particular, watching students’ growth and learning new things each year.

Outside of school, Miss Wong enjoys observing landscapes, and is also passionate about doing art, including drawing everyday things that she sees. She also attends church on Sundays, and is very strong in her faith.

- Isobel M. of 8E, Interviewer & Writer

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Meet Selina Cmelik!

Selina will be joining our Science team as a Laboratory Technician. Selina was a past student at Doncaster Secondary College, graduating in 2019. Since then, Selina has worked at various schools, both primary and secondary, in many different roles including as an integration aide, library assistant and receptionist.

When an opportunity arose for her to return DSC, Selina jumped at the chance as she really enjoyed her time here as a student and has a passion for Science. She looks forward to contributing to the Science program here at DSC and working along with people who love Science just as much as she does.

In her spare time, Selina loves playing sport, landscaping, camping and all kinds of outdoorsy activities!

Positions of Responsibility 2024

A Positive Climate and Community Leader is...

all about working with staff and families to establish a strong learning partnership and lead school wide initiatives to make the learning environment one that is positive for optimised learning growth.

Excellence in Teaching and Learning Leaders...

have an aim to review, create and implement best curriculum and teaching practices that are in line with our College's visions and values. They work closely with teachers to support the use of evidence-based assessment and constant reflection on teaching strategies. DSC has an aim to meet each student at their point of need, and the Teaching and Learning Leaders support and collaborate with classroom teachers to do this, with consideration for student data, our school's goals and staff needs.

The role of Learning Specialists are...

to build the capacity of teachers to improve student learning growth and foster positive school climate through demonstration lessons, coaching, mentoring, and observational practice.

What does it look like in the school:

While in a classroom Learning Specialists may take notes about the teacher’s learning instructions, student’s levels of classroom engagement, student behaviour and peer relationships. Students may see Learning Specialist team teaching with their classroom teacher or working with teachers and families to support students with ways to differentiate their learning. We aim to visit as many classrooms as possible and to support staff to view each other’s lessons. We’re excited to see all of the amazing work that’s going on at DSC, and to build a community that celebrates excellence in Teaching and Learning.

How we support families:

Regular communication through the school's newsletter or Compass post, Learning Specialist will help to share tips on maximising your child’s learning at DSC.

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