Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the 2024 academic school year. I wish to take this opportunity to welcome all returning and new families and staff who are joining our learning community. I trust you have all had an enjoyable summer break and are looking forward to the various experiences awaiting our students. Our aim and commitment is to continue to provide our students with a varied range of skills that will allow them to discover and develop their interests and talents. I look forward to seeing the contribution of each student throughout the year. Our Animating Principle for 2024 is ‘Making Responsible Choices’ and focuses on bringing the College value of Responsibility to the forefront of our work.

The staggered start to the year has resulted in students settling into routines and their learning. At the same time, our Years 7 to 10 students and their families have had the opportunity of setting themselves up for a targeted commencement to the year through their scheduled Ready to Learn Interviews. Our Years 1 and 2 students undertook assessments last week and our Prep students have their assessments on Wednesdays throughout the month of February. Much work has gone into preparing for the launch of the year. I would like to take the opportunity of acknowledging the work of our teaching and support staff in organising the necessary curriculum programs, administrative systems, resources and facilities for our students.

Thank you also to our parents and carers who have prepared their children for a smooth start to the year. A reminder to parents that PSW is our Uniform Supplier (with the Campbellfield store open during extended hours in February) and Campion Books in Thomastown is our secondary school book and stationery supplier. Centrepay, BPAY and Compass Billing are all available at the College and any families who are experiencing financial hardship are encouraged to contact Ms Nancy Wain our Accounts Manager, in the Main Administration Office.

Our newsletter is a major means of communication with parents and families so we encourage you to take the time to read it and familiarise yourself with current events. The newsletter is produced fortnightly and is uploaded to our website and our Parent Portal, COMPASS. Parents are urged to ensure that we have their current preferred email address to receive the link to the newsletter. Please advise the Main Administration Office immediately of any change of residential or email address and phone numbers.

A copy of our Communication Directory has also been included in this newsletter to assist you when contacting the College. Key roles and responsibilities are shared across the College so that matters can be attended to as quickly as possible. The Communication Directory can also be found on our website under the ‘Contact’ tab and is updated periodically.

All new families to MRC will have received notification of their individual usernames and passwords to access the COMPASS Parent Portal. If you have misplaced your username and password, please contact the Main Administration Office to assist you. Compass is utilised as our main online communication tool. It is often used to convey important and urgent matters to the College community.

To adhere to the new face to face teaching arrangements for 2024, as well as better alignment to the local bus route timetable, we have altered our bell times. Reminders have been sent out at the start of this year. The new bell times appear in this newsletter.

The Department of Education (DE) has very clear policies and guidelines in relation to student attendance at school. It is crucial that children and students develop habits of regular attendance at an early age; even from the time they are enrolled in a pre-school setting. Poor patterns of attendance place students at risk of not achieving their educational, social and psychological potential and they may be disadvantaged in the quality of choices they are able to make in later life situations. The “It’s Not OK To Be Away” initiative emphasises the importance DE is placing on improving student attendance rates in all Victorian schools. We encourage families to ensure that children are at school on time and endeavour to make external appointments outside of school hours. The College also discourages families from having extended holidays during the school terms. I have included procedures for attendance information in this newsletter which clearly sets out the College’s processes in relation to students arriving late, leaving early, absences, holidays and students who are leaving the College. If an emergency occurs and you need to collect your children unexpectedly, please try and call ahead so we can locate your child and have them waiting for you. In a large school setting such as ours, arriving unexpectedly can cause delays in collecting your children. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

This year sees Mount Ridley College (MRC) having 424 students in the Early Years; 581 students in the Junior Years; 771 students in the Middle Years and 1143 students in the Senior Years Mini Schools. As always the College’s operational structures ensure that staff teams can work with designated groups of students in order to cater for their individual learning needs. MRC will have approximately 300 teaching and support staff for this purpose.

In the year ahead we look forward to a number of exciting developments including:

The completion of our new double storey Stage 6 building, Nottingham, which will house our Year 10 students, as well as a purpose built 300 seat theatre;
A new Community Hub;
A series of landscaping and external grounds projects;
Renovation of buildings, including internal and external painting;
Increased numbers of computers for student use;
Further development of our student leadership and advocacy program; and
Our College production which will take place in our new theatre and involve students from a wide cross section of age groups.

This is the first newsletter since the release of the 2023 VCE results and Tertiary entrance offers in which I am able to confirm our students’ achievements. Up from last year, 97% of our students satisfactorily completed their VCE. Our Dux of the College, Alistair Dadan achieved an ATAR of 99.7 – a great personal achievement and the highest result in the College’s history. Our 2023 student VCE results outperformed those our neighbouring government and catholic schools with the following statistics:

ATAR

52.22 mean ATAR Score.
51.25 median ATAR Score.
99.7 top ATAR Score.
20% of students gained above a 70 ATAR score.

STUDY SCORE

Median Study Score 25.
21 x 40+ Study Scores.
7 x 40+ Study Scores from Business Management
47 top Study Score in Chemistry.

From a pathways perspective, 94% of students received a first round VTAC offer into University or TAFE, whilst the remaining students have confirmed employment, apprenticeships, traineeships, are seeking employment or taking a gap year. Such achievements would not have been possible without the dedication of our staff and support of parents and families. Collectively, they worked to provide our Year 12 students with the best possible learning outcomes.

The beginning of the year presents a timely opportunity to remind students about pedestrian safety around the College. This includes using all available crossings and obeying the instructions of the crossing supervisors. Late last year, works along Aitken Boulevard re-designed access across this main thoroughfare to occur at the traffic lights. It is also important to remind parents that staff are rostered on from 8:40am until 3:20pm to supervise students in the yard before and after school. To ensure peace of mind, parents should consider these times when dropping off and picking up their children. Student safety remains a priority at all times. Please take care around the College when dropping off and picking up your children. We are all aware of the traffic congestion at the commencement and finish of the school day and the numerous road works currently in the Craigieburn area; however, we ask that common sense prevails and sensible practices are adopted to ensure the safety of all students of our College. It is extremely important to model good road safety behaviour to our children as they learn from our adult behaviours.

MRC has a uniform dress code for all students which consists of a standardised range of clothing, including footwear and headwear. It is in place to clearly identify students of the College. Students are required to wear the uniform during school hours, while travelling to and from school and when engaged in school activities out of school hours. The Uniform Dress Code reinforces in students a sense of pride in their appearance. It instils in them the recognition that they are an integral part of the College community and assists in developing pride in representing their College. The wearing of the school uniform promotes equality amongst students at MRC and helps to ensure that students are safe within the school environment.

College Council requires that the College Principal be responsible for the implementation of the Dress Code in a manner consistent with the Student Engagement Guidelines. It is a requirement of College Council that all students will adhere to the uniform dress code which will be enforced by all teachers. For Term 1, students are required to wear the summer uniform. The sports uniform should only be worn on your child’s sport day. Each child’s timetable is available on Compass.

Students and carers are reminded about the Victorian government’s ban on mobile phone use in schools. As such, MRC is required to have and enforce a mobile phone policy. This policy means that mobile phones brought to school by students must be switched off and stored securely in lockers (or with their relevant Mini School) during the school day. Students using their mobile phones during school hours will have them confiscated.

Our Prep – Year 4 (Early Years) Canteen and our Years 5 – 12 Canteen menus can be found on your Compass newsfeed and on the website under the ‘OUR COLLEGE’ tab. Instructions for registering for Online lunch ordering can be found here as well or follow the link https://boccafoods.com.au for more information. Please remember to update your child’s year level and mentor class at the start of each year. As previously advised, the College has organised a priority pick up service for Years 7 to 12 students who place a lunch order.

All schools collect, use, disclose and store student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please take time to remind yourself of our College’s collection notice, found on our website http://www.mountridleycollege.vic.edu.au/?page_id=137.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365 safely at the school (https://arc.educationapps.vic.gov.au/162.sfm) and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365, please contact the College.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy – Information for Parents found on the Department of Education’s website. The link is also available here Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au). This information is also available in eleven community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Student photographs will be taken in March this year. Specific details will be released on Compass in coming weeks.

I am looking forward to working with our staff, students and families and sharing many achievements with you throughout 2024.

Kind regards,

Lino Pagano

College Principal

DARE Drama- come join!