Campus Principal Report

As we reach the midpoint of Term 3 the year 12’s are starting to focus on their exams (as well as their Formal!) the rest of the school has settled into their new units, whether it be year 9 electives or Year 10 half year units. At year 8 students swapped between Woodwork or Food tech and Innov8 or Textiles while at year 7 they swap between VC & Art and Drama & Music. 

The opportunities for students to engage in wider learning continues unabated. Excursions such as the year 11 Business Exploration to BB8 Billiards in Glen Waverley led by our own 3 times World Champion Billiards Player Mr Foldvari. 

The VHAP program gives access, for some of our most talented students in particular study areas, to challenging learning. Run at the campus by Ms Dhillion over the year a number of students will be identified and offered the opportunity. Currently we have about 8 year 7 & 8 students doing a maths program every week.

The year 10’s have all been out on work experience and I would like to thank the year 10 team and Ms Scaife for all their work in helping our students firstly get a placement but also ensuring it is a meaningful one.

The year 9’s had a successful ‘City Experience’ and learned a lot about city life. For some of our students this is the first time that they have been on public transport to the city.

The year 8 band has been on the ‘Primary School Tour’ where they visit and play for the primary students. This is both a great performance opportunity for them as well as a fantastic promotional event for the College. We are very proud of the talent and dedication on show with our year 8 band and the pathways it opens up for all participants. Ably led and conducted by Mr Hayter they are on their way to being ‘professional’!

The year 12 Sport and recreation VET class have been running clinics at Athol Rd Primary School. Part of their course is focused on coaching. This venture is literally a win/win for both groups of students.

I cannot leave the great things happening without acknowledging the senior boys volleyball ’stars’ led and coached by Mr Htut. The boys competed in the Victorian Volleyball 4 Day Schools Cup. The VVFDSC is one of the most prominent events that Volleyball Victoria offers to high schools for students in Years 7-12 and this year they had a total of 211 team entries from various high schools all across Victoria. Safe to say, it is a gruelling tournament, which began on Friday 29 July and concluded on Monday 1 August. Not only did they compete but they WON both the one day event and the 4 day event.  The boys: Chetra HAB, Lawrence LA, Anthony PRUM, Dionte RUSSELL, Kevin SOK, Jordan SVAY & Louis Truong and of course Mr Htut and Mr Wagner (wo took them on Saturday). A real feather in the cap for our College!

The building project is moving ahead. The builder will shortly be taking over the site and building a compound from which they operate. This will mean that the school will be accessible from each entrance but there will be no ‘drive thru’ option as that is where the building site will be.

In the meantime, the canteen plans are moving forward with the gutting of the old cooking room, which will eventually be remodelled into a state of the art canteen and dining area (al fresco is the plan!)

It is never dull at the Banksia Campus! I encourage all students to take every opportunity and make the most of every moment at school. 

Richard Hastings

Principal - Banksia Campus

There have been significant year level and/or sub school events recently. These events are so important to our students, however couldn’t be carried out without the organisation and commitment of our Teaching and Education Support Staff. 

Year 10’s headed out on Work Experience for the week – from Monday 1st to Friday 5th August. So many had such a fantastic experience and learnt new skills. We had some incredible feedback about many of the students, with some being offered further part-time employment! 

Specifically, we received written feedback to the College about Junior Fonoia who completed his Work Experience placement with Melbourne Storm. They wrote a lovely email which included, “I wanted to say how amazing Junior was as an work experience student. Again, thank you for the opportunity to work with Junior who represented Keysborough College with Respect and Gratitude not often seen at such a young age.” 

Still on the topic of work experience, my daughter attends a local childcare centre, and I got a notification on the childcare app of a ‘new activity’ the children were doing. A photo popped up of Sadaf Salihi of Year 10 working with my daughter on the little activity. What a lovely little moment of my two worlds colliding.

The Senior School information evening was held on Thursday 28th July, for all current Year 9 and Year 10 students to find out about various pathways on offer, subjects they can choose in 2023 and the upcoming course counselling days. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students and their families to hear, in person, information about their pathway options and how the school will guide them through some major decisions. The ‘expo’ of subjects and Learning Areas looked sensational and the energy in the room was palpable. It was absolutely a team effort from staff to set up the expo stands and a beautiful display of collegiality. We received some lovely feedback from our School Council President, Lee-Anne Theodorou, “I wanted to say that the presentation last night was really insightful to many families including our own. Thanks for your effort, preparation and the information imparted made the session well worth it.”

Our Year 9s attended City Experience from Monday 25th July to Friday 29th July. It has been reported that the students were beautifully behaved and represented our College and RED values tremendously. Many students expressed their favourite activity being ice skating. There were lots of tired bodies by the end of the week – travelling into the city every day for a fun filled day of activities is tiring work!

Following their City Experience Week, our Year 9s engaged in a Year 9 into Year 10 Transition Week; where they got a ‘taste’ for the various subjects on offer next year. It was the first time this Transition Week has been run at the College. We are pleased our students will go into their course counselling sessions with come clarity about the Year 10 subject offerings and expectations in 2023.

Our first round of Course Counselling days, being Year 11 into 12 on Monday 8th August, went really smoothly. All students were provided with a 1:1 course counselling interview where their parent was encouraged to attend. In these sessions’, students expressed their pathways of interest and investigated with their counsellor possible prerequisites for various courses. They then proceeded to finalise their subject choices for 2023. 

Our VCALs are getting stuck into their community projects at the moment. I’m really impressed with the engagement of the students in this task and their personal ideas to give back to the local community. We had a group of students present at our staff briefing on Thursday 11th August, calling for donations for ‘Backpacks for VIC kids’. They are trying to gather items to create two backpacks to pass on to the organisation for a boy and girl aged between 6 and 8 years old. A really lovely idea to give back to those in need. 

Always lots happening here and super proud of what we are achieving.

Natalie Fode

Principal - Acacia Campus