Assistant Principal 

Welcome back to all members of the Lalor College community. We hope this year will be a successful one for all of our students in the senior years. The start of this year saw our year 12 students launch into their year with a three-day Study Conference at Lady Northcote Recreation camp. There they we treated to a variety of activities to challenge and motivate them for what will be a fabulous year ahead.  I was fortunate to attend the second day, and was pleased to see that camp activities really supported our own key messages of positivity, required for a strong start to the year, and to gently shift the focus away from holidays to the more serious side of preparing to be a successful student in year 12. During the camp students also participated in several activities which stretchered their comfort zones and reinforced personal confidence through a series of team-based challenges. 

A huge thank you to the year 12 staff who attended the camp and supported the students to have a wonderful time Thank you to Kat Carmody and the year 12 student managers, Simon Hill and Zak Zdraveska as well as Kate Brittingham for their tremendous planning and energy throughout the three days to ensure the camp was an enjoyable one for all students.

The Year 11 program started with a full day of re connection activities, designed to allow students to refocus and settle back into an academic routine. Students completed activities to allow for discussion and thinking regarding resilience and the personal skills and attitudes, or mindsets, to address working towards goals productively. Thank you to Thao Ngyen and Kam Aoude, our 2025 year 11 student managers for the planning of the program and supporting our students to have a smooth start in year 11. 

After a fabulous start to the new school year, the senior school has settled into a busy rhythm, with students finding their feet and preparing for their first (CAT) Common Assessment Task in their relevant studies. As parents and guardians, can you please take the time to quickly check to ensure that all senior students have their required textbooks and subject requisites, as they will not be able to achieve their very best if they are already behind in these vital education materials. I am pleased to say most students are well placed with these necessities, however, there are some instances where a few students have not purchased the required items including class textbooks.

Financial assistance is available to families who maybe experiencing financial hardship. Please speak to a member of the senior school team or our wellbeing staff, should you require assistance.

The college has also purchased subscriptions to Edrolo for our year 12 students to supplement their classroom learning experience so that they may be armed with additional resources and content tutorials to place them in good stead to do well in their studies. Please support us, in encouraging your kids to log on and regularly use this platform as a routine part of their weekly study. Features include quizzes and practice exam questions for a multitude of topics. Log in details will be posted to compass in the next few days.

On a similar note, the college has purchased a Mathspace subscription for all math students in years 7 to 10. This platform allows for tailored adaptive student learning of essential math skills. Some students may exhibit Maths anxiety and sadly may not view themselves as “Maths people”. This platform allows teachers to assign learning tasks at the student’s individual point of learning need which provides support at the exact moment of any misconception in understanding which may be displayed by students. Together with the teacher, homework tasks generated by Mathspace provide personalized practice and support at each step. We expect to see improved student proficiency and engagement through regular use of this program. Please support your child by asking them about the program, how they are going and encouraging completion of homework.

 Staff started the school year with an intensive couple of days of Professional Learning. 

The focus of these was the continuation of upskilling in teachers implementing our LSC Instructional Model refreshing some Literacy strategies to Improve classroom reading skills in all subjects. Please refer to Emma Dower’s Newsletter item on the ways that you as parents can continue to support the development of literacy in your children in secondary school. Emma, together with Mario Ladnjak and Olivia Marangos make up the leading teachers of our Teaching and Learning team this year.

 Mario can assist you with any booklist queries you may have. 

These are some pictures from the two days of staff professional learning in our new repurposed hall. As you can see, staff are continual learners and are always up for the challenge of problem solving and trialing new ways to support learning.

Please as always feel free to contact myself or members of the senior school team with any queries or concerns you may have.

Here’s to what I am confident will be another highly successful year at Lalor Secondary College!

Laura Forster.

Assistance Principal