Acting Principal Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Welcome back to Term 4! I hope you all had a wonderful Term 3 break, and that you now feel as though you are raring to go as we enter the final part of 2024. 

The big news this week is from our intrepid explorers who are still basking in the glow of their recent trip to Japan. It has been joyous to speak with the staff who volunteered their time, and to the students who took part in this once in a lifetime experience. Over the Term 3 break, I was contacted by a family who wanted to share their personal thanks about the experience that they had managed to be a part of via the family communications sent by our staff; it is amazing to hear good news from our wider community about what we do best: build great relationships that support teaching and learning for every one of our students.

 Mordialloc College Values: Personal Best

Thanks to our Director of Senior School, Susan Cochrane, Year 12 Coordinator, Angela Holloway, Senior School Assistant, Karen Dewberry and all Year 12 staff for the timely completion of VCE content so that Year 12 VCE students could move smoothly into their practice exams at the end of Term Three. This model has provided more focused time in class for targeted revision during the lead up to the Year 12 exams which for some students have already started.

 VCE EXAM TIMETABLE

Up until the end of Week 3, students are encouraged to maximise time with their teachers by attending all classes for targeted revision, and for professional support in the lead up to each of their exams. 

During the VCE examination period, students are allowed to come onsite to study and/or see their subject teachers for support; they should email specific teachers if they would like to take advantage of this opportunity. 

A big thank you to teachers who worked over the Term 3 break by holding revision sessions, and marking practice papers to ensure that students were provided with valuable feedback to support their revision in preparation for their VCE examinations. 

Year 10 and Year 11 students will be completing final assessments and continuing the rigorous planning and preparation for their final exams in Week 7. It is so important for all students to remain focused and use class and home study time effectively. Students should have conversations with their teachers that support them to identify weaknesses, complete unit summaries, and continue to work on exam performance by completing past exam papers under the exam time constraints. I often get asked about how families can support each other with revision: all of our Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students have had dedicated revision sessions with Elevate, and they have prepared a resource for families to support their children with revision: 

REVISION RESOURCES FOR PARENTS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS

Year 7, 8 and Year 9 students will be completing assessments throughout the term leading into the final reporting period. All students in Years 7 to 9 will present a Student Led Conference in Week 7 to celebrate their achievements for this year before moving up to the next year level in our 2025 Headstart program on 25th November. More information about the Student Led Conference arrangements will follow this term. 

We have high expectations around both staff and students striving to achieve their personal best in everything they do.

Mordialloc College Student Council 2024

Julia Hockey (Director of Student Engagement) has been overseeing the Mordialloc College Student Council throughout 2024, and at the end of Term 3, Julia, myself and our current captains spoke at Year Level assemblies to promote the Student Council and to explain the 2025 application process to Years 7 to 11 students. The key goal of the Mordialloc College Student Council is to provide opportunities for greater student agency, and leadership across the College. 

We are looking for School Captains and Vice Captains, along with Middle School Captains and Vice Captains. We have six sub-committees each led by a Year 12 leader, alongside  House Captains for each year level. The aim is for the Mordialloc College Student Council to report back to their respective year levels in our weekly Year Level Assemblies.

Please speak with your child and find out if they are interested in applying for Captain roles, or spaces on one of our sub-committees: 

• Performing Arts
• Visual Arts
• Community and Student Wellbeing
• Curriculum (Years 7-12) including Vocational Major 
• Facilities and Environment
• Promotions and Fundraising
• Sports

The applications for our 2025 Mordialloc College Student Council close at the end of this week (October 11th) for the Captains and Year 12 leader roles, with the sub-committee member applications due the following Friday (October 18th).

Annual Art show

We look forward to our Annual Art Show, with our opening night to be held next week on Tuesday 15th October from 6.00 pm in the EZ. This is part of our Arts Celebration Week and is a true community event with the talents of our students and staff on show. All members of our community are invited to attend to celebrate the works of our Year 7-12 students, across the visual and performing arts. Our local MP, Mr Tim Richardson will be in attendance to officially open the night.

A reminder call for students and families looking to enter work, as part of the community art show submission, for our upcoming Mordialloc College art show on Tuesday 15th of October. Work is to be submitted with your form to the G4 or Front Offices by Monday the 7th of October (Term 4 Week 1). 

Click the link to enter : https://forms.gle/Lq1BXjjwRnn5Xkxm6 

An incredible amount of work has gone into the preparations for this significant event and the Art and Technology Team deserves the highest praise for their commitment to the College and dedication in ensuring the successful delivery of this quality event. Special thanks to Leah Bright for coordinating this event, with our assistant coordinators Alex Trevisan and Quinn Daly.

 Staffing

Some of you will already know that Liz McConville will be leaving us in Week 2 so that she can move to a school that is only 5 minutes from her home. As Liz has a young child, this will make those drop-offs so much easier for her family. We will be gutted to see Liz go; she is an amazing classroom practitioner, can always be relied on to get involved in whatever needs doing, and is always the first to showcase the great behaviour that exemplary teachers model to their students. Whilst we hate to see her go, I really do understand how hard it can be to juggle work with a young family, and wish her the very best. We are currently working through the recruitment process for a replacement for this role and will share the outcome of this as soon as we are able.

Julia Phillips is on leave this term and her classes have been picked up by colleagues, and also casual relief teachers. We have a new VCE English teacher, Tim Roche, starting with us in week 3, and he will pick up not only some of Julia’s classes but, also some of the other English classes that have had  casual relief teachers attached to them during Term 2.

Sam Wells is on leave this term and her classes have been picked up by casual relief teachers. 

Maria Antoniou will be going on maternity leave from November 6th, and her classes will be picked up by colleagues.

Hope that you have a great fortnight.

Rachael Stone

Acting Principal