ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS' REPORT
MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER: STUDENT-FREE DAY
McKinnon staff will be having a Professional Practice Day on Monday 3 November (the day before Melbourne Cup Day). This provides time for teachers to work on planning and marking. As such, students will not be required at school on this day. Teachers will, however, be posting lesson plans on Compass so students have work to complete at home. As always, there will be no school on Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday 4 November) as it is a public holiday.
ACCESSING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING
As we move into the final part of the school year it is important that students are maximising their learning opportunities in all their subjects. In order to have informed conversations with your child about their learning, please remember to access assessment feedback via Compass Learning Tasks. Once teachers have finished marking a task, they will post the result and comments online for both students and parents to read. This information, together with the feedback provided in Progress Reports and Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences, will greatly help families work together with the school to improve student learning.
CURRENT YEAR 9s - UPGRADING YOUR CHROMEBOOK
McKinnon has achieved great success with its Chromebook program. With all students using a standard platform, we provide confidence for students and teachers and ensure that technology enhances our ability to deliver an effective curriculum.
For our current Year 9 students (entering Year 10 in 2026), their Chromebook is approaching the end of its 3-year warranty. An email has been sent to these families outlining how to order the new device online; this message is also posted on the Year 9 parent newsfeed. Thank you to all parents and students for their ongoing support of our Chromebook program. It is an essential part of our curriculum and helps maximise both learning opportunities and outcomes for all students.
Please note that recent upgrades to our online security systems means that only our Chromebooks can connect to the school wifi (rather than other Mac/Windows laptops). Therefore, all students in Years 7-12 need a Chromebook in order to access all our learning systems and resources. If your child needs to purchase a new device, please contact our IT support on help@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT ATTENDANCE PROCESSES
Daily attendance at school is crucial for all students to support them in their learning and development. If, however, your child is absent, please follow the instructions outlined below. This will ensure the school is informed in a timely manner and our records are accurate.
If your child cannot attend school, the best way to notify us is via the Compass App - you can simply create an ‘Attendance Note’ to explain the absence (e.g. illness, appointment, religious holiday, etc.). This needs to be done before the start of the school day (8:50am) to avoid being sent an automatic SMS. Please note that if we do not receive parental approval for the absence within 48 hours, it will be marked as ‘truancy’.
If you need to contact us about attendance, please email absences@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
Alternatively, you can call our Attendance Officers on 8520 9050.
We also wanted to remind families that if your child is arriving late or leaving early during the school day, the easiest way to notify us is again via the Compass App. Please be advised that if students in Years 7 - 9 need to leave early (e.g. due to illness or appointment) they must be collected by a parent/carer. We are unable to dismiss students without adequate supervision.
UNIFORM
Full uniform requirements for the College can be found here.
If new uniform items are needed, our supplier is Bob Stewart.
Location: 466 Centre Road Bentleigh
Phone number: 9036 7384
Trading hours: 8:30am – 5pm (Mon to Fri); 9:30am – 12:30pm (Sat)
Information is available here for pricing and ordering
If for any reason your child is not in the correct school uniform, they must report to the Student Managers at the start of the day for a uniform pass.