From the Principal

Hello everyone, I would like to remind families of the parent/teacher interviews next week on Wednesday 27th March. There is a wealth of research indicating the powerful association between positive family engagement in learning and improved student learning and wellbeing outcomes. 

‘Children’s education begins from birth, with parents/carers as their first educators and role models. Throughout their school years children and young people spend less than twenty percent of their waking hours at school, so schools cannot lift student outcomes alone. Families play a critical role in providing a learning bridge between school and the home, and vice-versa. This was evidence in many school communities during remote and flexible learning. Families can nurture positive attitudes toward learning in their children and build their children’s confidence as learners. 

Importantly, engaging in learning is a two-way process; families learn from schools and schools learn from families. This brings together both teacher and family knowledge which in turn leads to a more inclusive education and greater opportunities to improve student outcomes’. 

This year parent/teacher interviews will be a hybrid model of face to face and remote, using Microsoft teams. This is to support and encourage many families to participate. I hope the hybrid model caters for your needs.  

Next week is our last week of T1 and is a short week. The newsletter will be sent on Thursday at 9am. 

Have a great week. 

Linda Stanton

Principal

Important Dates

Term 1

March

Wednesday 13th to 25th March - Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN

Monday 25th March - Year 7 Grandparent Morning Tea

Wednesday 27th March - Parent Teacher Interviews - Hybrid online and face to face

Thursday 28th March - Last day of Term 1, 2.30pm dismissal

Friday 29th March - Good Friday Public Holiday

Term 2

April

Monday 15th April - Term 2 Commences

Monday 15th April - Year 7 and Year 10 Vaccinations

Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th April - Year 9 Morrisby Meetings

Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th April - Year 11 Outdoor Ed Wilsons Prom Camp

Friday 19th April - State Swimming at MSAC

Wednesday 24th April - ANZAC Day Commemorations at school

Thursday 25th April - ANZAC Day - Public Holiday

Monday 29th April to Wednesday 1st May - Year 10 Outdoor Ed Otways Camp

May

Wednesday 8th May - Year 7 Cross Country

Thursday 16th May - Year 10 Careers Expo

Friday 17th May - Staff Professional Development Day - Student free

Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th May - Year 7 Camp - The Summit

June

Tuesday 4th June - Year 12 TRAG Excursion

Thursday 6th to Friday 14th June - Year 10 and 11 Mid Year Exams

Monday 10th June - King's Birthday - Public Holiday

Monday 17th June - Semester 2 Begins

Tuesday 18th June - Year 12 GAT

Thursday 20th to Friday 21st June - Year 12 Outdoor Ed Snow Camp

Friday 21st June - SMR Cross Country - Ballam Park

Tuesday 25th June - 2025 Course Information Evening - 5.00 to 7.00pm

Thursday 27th June - Year 12 Fancy Dress Evening - Frankston Arts Centre

Friday 28th June - Last Day of Term 2 - 2.30pm Dismissal

Follow us on

Don't forget to look on compass for sport sign ups, excursions and any other information sent to students and parents. 

Below is a link to help guide you in your use of compass.

https://mornsc.vic.edu.au/for-parents/compass-parent-guide/

Middle School

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I have just attended the Year 9 assembly. Mrs Jones and the Coordination team presented students with awards for 100 per cent attendance and praised the students for wearing full school uniform. They discussed the student’s excellent behaviour in Naplan and for the commitment to the Morrisby career profiling. Students were informed that they have their interviews the first week back in term 2. The assembly finished with a you tube clip on resilience and with students answering Easter trivia questions. The very last item required students to put up their hands to answer the name of a country as Mrs Jones went through the entire alphabet. It was such a positive assembly and all of the students and teachers joined in. Of course, Easter eggs as prizes added to the excitement of the assembly.

Later today, the Year 9 students have their Naplan Numeracy test. Overall, the students have found Naplan to be both a positive and interesting experience. Results will be available much earlier due to the online process.

A reminder that we have our Year 7 Grandparents or special adult morning tea on Monday 25 March. It is not too late to attend! We want to know numbers so we can bake enough scones for you! We are so excited to meet you and look forward to seeing you at our front office at 9.30am Monday. All Year 7 Grandparents/parents welcome.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Denise Leggett

Middle School Assistant Principal

Senior School

To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,

I wanted to start my article this week by saying thank you to the Year 11 Health & Human development classes. They have been studying an area of study to do with nutrition and under the guidance of Ms Barnes and Ms Dixon, they have spent time planning, then preparing, and finally presenting healthy meals. I was honoured to have been selected as a judge for Ms Barnes’ class and was incredibly impressed at the standards of the meals presented. The students also demonstrated detailed nutritional information about the types of energy, macro and micro-nutrients contained within. These students have shown their ability to be highly effective in the kitchen and I look forward to hearing stories of them helping with family meal preparation at home!

Parent teacher interviews are being held on Wednesday next week with a split model (face-to-face in the afternoon and then online in the evening) and they represent a fantastic opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers and find out how they are progressing. The classroom teacher is always your best first point of contact whenever you have a concern or would like some feedback about how your child is performing in classes. If you are unable to make it next week but would like an update, please email the teacher directly through Compass and they can provide you with some information.

Our College Captains, Bridie and Molly ran Captain’s Council with the 2024 Year Level Captains during the week and it was fantastic to hear the ideas put forth by the Captains. The students will be looking at our 2023 Attitude to School Survey data and thinking about ways we can further improve the school (from a students’ point of view). 

Have an amazing weekend (last one before the holidays),

Nick Evans

Senior School Assistant Principal

Teaching Towards Tomorrow.....

Its often spoken about in the media about how schools are preparing students for jobs that haven’t even been created yet. As you could understand this can be a significant challenge, however the technology space is one place where you can see tomorrow today.  The technology team are doing a lot of work in the 3D space, teaching skills which will become essential in the new and emerging technology space.  Whether its robotics at year 9 or systems engineering in the VCE, students are learning to be creative users of technology develop systems approaches to solving problems.

Kind regards,

Mike Parker

Assistant Principal

Year 12 Environmental Science Camp

Early this month, the Yr12 Environmental Science class headed to Mt Rothwell Conservation Reserve as part of their study of threatened endemic species and their management. Mt Rothwell is the largest feral predator-free ecosystem in Victoria where you can see some of Australia’s most threatened fauna, including the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Southern Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby and Eastern Quoll. It was established for the management of high conservation value species breeding and research programs. Upon arrival, students headed out with ‘catch-and-release’ traps which they set in various locations through the grassy woodlands. They returned to the visitor centre for a presentation on biodiversity and management of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot followed by a spotlight walk, where we spotted threatened Potoroo’s, Betong’s, Southern Brush-Tailed Rock Wallabies and an Eastern Brown Bandicoot. It was then time to check the traps. Students caught and released a number of species, assisting with the monitoring program at Mt Rothwell.

The night was spent camping in the Brisbane Ranges National Park, and in the morning, students began their data collection for the second part of their study, which set out to determine if the Brisbane Ranges is a suitable release site for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Students had designed their own investigation technique and methodology and collected data at six sites throughout the Park. They will analyse this data and present it as part of their assessment. The trip offered a unique experience to see species that used to be widespread in Victoria, but unfortunately due to habitat loss and predation by introduced species, are now only found in small reserves.

Vocational Major Excursion to Bayside Rock

On Monday 18 March the Vocational Major Personal Development students went to Bayside Rock to enjoy the challenges of doing a high ropes course, rock climbing, bouldering and going through some very scary tunnels! Students were being tested on their emotional intelligence including their ability to communicate appropriately with everyone, being positive team members and putting effort into problem-solving as they attempted to complete each task. 

It was great to see all the students participating and giving everything a go. At times, students were challenged – especially on the high ropes course that had some scary gaps that they had to cross. 

Well done everyone – it was great to see the encouragement and support everyone gave each other as people overcame their fear of heights and challenged themselves to move beyond their comfort zones. 

Some of the highlights of the day were: 

The highlight of the day was climbing and completing the high ropes. being able to make it to the end and going beyond my comfort zone. Matt R 

The bouldering was over and beyond. Tom M. 

I enjoyed crawling through the tunnels. 

The best of the day was rock climbing and the tunnels. Banjo 

I used my emotional intelligence by not yelling at the person in front of me in the tunnels as they took so long. 

Have you booked your Parent Teacher Conferences?

Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on Wednesday 27 March.

Structure:

This semester we are going to try a hybrid model: half the day on site, face to face interviews with the second half being online.

• Face to Face interviews will be at school from 12-3:30pm
• Online interviews will be on MS Teams from 5-7:30pm

You should book using Compass then attend school for the face to face interviews or have your child’s laptop ready to receive a call from the class teacher for the online interviews.

If you will be unable to access your child’s laptop at the time of the online interview please email the class teacher and we will provide you with an alternative link.

Latte to School

Latte to School is a student run café at Mornington Secondary College which aims to upskill students and provide them with workplace experience, within a supervised environment. Supported by Revolution Roasters in Somerville, VCE Vocational Major students are barista trained and are able to practice these coffee making skills during their shifts in the café. Within the café environment, students also learn transferable workplace skills such as money handling, organisation, health and safety protocol, communication and customer service. VCE VM students thrive in this environment, demonstrating skills to staff and teachers and building confidence and pride. 

End of Term 1

Mornington Lions Annual Charity Book Fair

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