Principal's Message

Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 3. It was heartwarming to see students refreshed and ready to begin the term after their two-week school break. School holidays are a good opportunity for students to reflect on their efforts and achievements during semester one, and recharge for semester two. This is particularly important for our Year 12 students who have now entered their final full term of secondary schooling.

Term 3 is an extremely busy term full of exciting programs and events for our students, with the school production, annual concert, Mt Buller ski camp and Careers program only to name a few. Our Year 12 students will be completing their work requirements ready for assessment, while some prepare for exams early next term. I wish all Year 12 student the best for a positive term and encourage them to enjoy and make the most of their remaining time together at VUSC. We wish them all the very best as they strive to successfully complete their studies and get ready to embark on a new journey.

Ray Lawicki

It is with enormous sadness and grief that I let our school community know that our Year 12 Specialist Mathematics teacher, Mr Lawicki, passed away on 5th August after a battle with illness. Mr Lawicki was much loved by staff and students, and will be greatly missed. He was recently honoured for his 55 years of service to education with Building D, our STEM building named after him, and a plaque commemorating his dedication to students sits above his classroom D14. Rest in peace Ray, your memory will live on in our hearts forever.

Jordan DOIDGE - 2025 State Solo & Ensemble Championships

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jordan Doidge competed in the 2025 State Solo & Ensemble Championships on Saturday 26th July at Carey Baptist Grammar School and is now the State Champion in the following categories:

Juvenile Under 15 Baritone – 1st Place
Juvenile Under 15 Euphonium – 1st Place
Junior Under 22 Ensemble – 1st Place

Well done Jordan, VUSC is extremely proud of you!!

Congratulations

Congratulations to the Girls U16 Rugby League Team for winning the NRL 9’s Championship against Staughton College late last term.

Congratulations also to 2025 Graduate Adin Mulahusic for receiving a Premier’s VCE Award. Adin achieved a perfect score of 50 in Applied Computing last year.

And well done to the Year 8 Boys Volleyball team for being Keilor Division Champions for the second year in a row! Congratulations to the team and Mr Eugenio for such a fantastic effort.

Senior Secondary Expo and Course Counselling

On Tuesday 29th July, Kristy Muratore, our Careers Leader, organised the Senior Secondary Expo to provide an opportunity for our Year 10 students to investigate subjects and courses within the VCE and VCEVM/VET pathways with Senior subject teachers. Subject displays were set up in Building D to provide students with a broad range of information regarding specific courses that they may decide to embark on next year.

Then on Monday 4th August, we hosted a Senior Secondary parent information evening which had over 300 people in attendance. Information about senior pathways, HeadStart, ATARs and curriculum was provided to parents to help them support their child to make the right subject selections during course counselling. Year 9 and 10 students will be selecting their courses for 2026 this term, followed by Year 8 students.

AVID Australia

Recently AVID Australia analysed the 2025 NAPLAN data for our school. I am delighted to share findings from the independent, longitudinal NAPLAN Value-Added data analysis (2014-2024) conducted by Dr Pete Goss.

Dr Goss’ AVID Value-Added NAPLAN Evaluation shows that students in AVID schools are outperforming students with similar backgrounds across Australia. The improvement is clear and is sustained over ten years plus, across established AVID schools in all states.

Findings include:

AVID secondary schools have added up to 2 years of extra NAPLAN learning since 2014.
On average, AVID schools have added 8 times more value to NAPLAN than their neighbouring schools.
AVID is about whole school improvement, and the results are seen and sustained across all NAPLAN domains over time.
AVID helps schools implement strategies that are evidence-informed, practical and affordable.
AVID schools report that it is AVID’s contextualised, high-quality professional learning that is making the difference in lifting teaching quality and student outcomes.

Victorian Schools Music Festival

This term our music students will be competing in a number of events as part of the Victorian Schools Music Festival:

1. Choir – Tuesday 5th August

2. Year 8 Concert Band – Thursday 21st August

3. Year 9 Concert Band – Friday 29th August

4. Big Band – Tuesday 9th September

5. Jazz Band and Stage Band – Friday 12th September

A huge thanks to our Music Leader, Robert Breen and his team for working so hard to bring out the best in our music students and giving them multiple opportunities to gain valuable experience in performing.

Coorperation, 2025 School Production

Tickets were sold out for our school production “Coorperation” on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st July. Both shows started at 6.30pm in our theatre in Building H at the Senior Campus. Over 50 of our talented students worked alongside Western Edge Youth Arts to provide ideas and stimulus for the production.

Coorperation came from weeks of brainstorming, improvisation, skills battles and collective reflection. It's a direct response to people in positions of power, who misuse their position to take advantage of the people they are responsible for.

This ensemble of talented young artists have shown up week after week, in their own time, on Friday afternoons, to devise this wonderful work. They've collaborated, they've constantly had each other’s backs, and they’ve worked hard to share the wonderful work they came up with.

I would like to thank the cast of students in the production, parents for their support, Ms Ellis, Mr Polizzi and Western Edge for once again working with our students and bringing out the best in them.

Jiangsu Sister School Visit

In week 2 this term, 20 Year 10 students and 3 teachers from our sister school, the High School Affiliated with Yangzhou University, visited our Senior Campus. They attended classes for three days as well as a school welcome event on arrival, where host families joined us for afternoon tea to meet and collect their students.

As always, our students and staff were delighted to welcome them to our school and embraced them as part of our community. Several students volunteered to be their buddies and took them into classes with them, and our wonderful Chinese teachers took the sister school teachers out to dinner and shopping every night.

On Wednesday 30th July, the students of our host families had the wonderful opportunity to attend an official welcome event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), hosted by the Department in celebration of the long-standing partnership between Victoria and the Jiangsu Province of China.

We are incredibly proud to highlight that our own Greta McCoy of 11E, took centre stage at this event. She delivered a welcoming speech in Chinese to over 500 attendees! Her confidence and poise were remarkable, and her pronunciation was praised by many. The applause and compliments from the audience were a testament to her hard work and dedication.

This experience not only showcased Greta’s talent but also highlighted the importance of cultural exchange and collaboration between our schools. It's moments like these that inspire our students to embrace new challenges and broaden their horizons.

The week finished with a farewell assembly where gifts were exchanged between the schools. As always, our sister school brings out the best in our students. Thank you to our host families, staff and students for making their visit an incredible success.

The importance of regular school attendance

At VUSC,we prioritise regular school attendance. We will work with families to ensure students are in class with their peers and teachers and enjoying all the benefits that brings.

Attending school every day means experiencing what counts – the learning, friendship, fun and opportunities that can shape your child’s future.

We understand that there are times when your child will need to miss school but to ensure minimal disruption to their education, please consider scheduling family holidays or medical/dental appointments outside of school time. If your child is well enough to attend but is worried about friendships, schoolwork or exams, please encourage them to come to school. Avoiding school can make these feelings worse and can create a negative pattern of behaviour.

If your child is having difficulty attending school, please talk to their Year Level Coordinator about getting support.

We know that parents and carers can be juggling challenges daily to get your children to school. If your child must miss school, notify us as soon as possible via the Absence Hotline on 8312 0243 so we can work together to support them.

For more information about the importance of everyday attendance, see Attendance and Missing School.

Remember, Every Day Counts.

Summer Uniform

A reminder to parents/carers that students will be required to wear the summer uniform in Term 4. The College uniform may be purchased from PSW online or at their Ravenhall store (Unit 2, 51-53 Westwood Drive), and second hand items may be bought and sold via the Sustainable School Shop website.

Enjoy the rest of the term.

Elaine Hazim

College Principal

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Child Safety at VUSC

Victoria University Secondary College is committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students:

Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
Child Safety Code of Conduct
Child Safe Standards Risk Register
Child safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure

All of our policies are available on our school website here. As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at VUSC, we welcome and encourage your feedback.