McKinnonNEWS

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS' REPORT

WELCOME

Welcome to the 2015 school year.  We especially welcome those families who are new to our school community.  We hope all families had a terrific summer break. 

COMPASS

Please keep your username and password secure and confidential.  As parents have the ability to approve absences online, your login details should not be shared with your child.  In addition to using Compass, parents are welcome to provide notes, emails and/or call the College to inform us of absences.  

 

Any parents who are new to McKinnon this year and have not received their login details should contact the General Office.  For parents who accessed Compass in 2014, the same username and password are required in 2015.

ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL ON TIME - 8:30AM

Students who arrive late to period 1 (which begins at 8.50am), will receive an automatic after school detention and miss the first period (not allowed entry to class), unless a note with an acceptable excuse is provided by a parent.  An acceptable excuse is a doctor’s appointment, illness, etc.

 

We have this system because we believe that:

 

i.              Research shows the best learning occurs early in the day

 

ii.             Students must be organised and prepared for all classes

 

iii.            Our professional teachers should not have their lessons interrupted by late students

 

iv.           Period 1 sets the ‘tone’ for each day.

 

Therefore we ask all parents to support our expectations by ensuring students arrive at school by 8:30am with time to organise before our 8:50am start every day.

UNIFORM

Please ensure your child comes to school in correct uniform that is in good condition at all times.  Uniform should be clean and any tears, holes etc repaired.  Boys must wear a plain black belt with both shorts and long trousers, with their shirt tucked in.  Senior students only may replace our school logo bag with a plain navy or black bag.  Only polished black lace-up shoes are acceptable for both boys and girls. Facial piercings such as nose studs and eyebrow piercings are not acceptable and students will be instructed to remove such piercings on-the-spot.  We want students to wear the uniform with pride and it is an important part of our school culture.

 

Please make use of our uniform shop located on campus.  The opening times are included in this newsletter and on the McKinnon website. Parents in financial difficulty are encouraged to contact the manager of the student wellbeing team, Ms Patty Etcell for assistance with the provision of uniforms.

 

The College blazer is the outer uniform garment for all students in years 7 - 11; students in Year 12 (only) may wear either the blazer or the College bomber jacket.  Blazers and jackets are optional in Terms 1 & 4; however, when travelling to/from school, students wishing to wear an outer garment must wear either the blazer or jacket (rather than the College jumper). The blazer/jacket are compulsory outer garments in Terms 2 & 3.

STUDENT REPORTING IN 2015

In 2015 McKinnon is moving towards continuous reporting of students’ academic achievement.  Using the Learning Tasks function in Compass (trialled with some classes/students in 2014), students’ results will be posted online by teachers when assessment tasks are completed.  This data will be accompanied by written feedback detailing your child’s achievements and what they need to do to improve.

 

End-of-semester reports will still be provided in June and December; these will be a compilation of the assessment information provided by teachers in each individual task throughout the semester.

 

At the end of each Term, the College will also provide online progress reports that provide feedback on students’ behaviour, effort, organisation, etc.

 

We are confident this will provide parents with a more detailed and timely understanding of students’ progress; this should lead to more rich conversations at home about what’s happening at school.  It will also enable parents (and students) to track each child’s academic progress over the year, as all assessment data is collated in the same place. 

PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT CONFERENCES IN 2015

For 2015, the College is changing the way parent/teacher/student conferences are conducted.  Rather than conducting separate sessions for different year levels (on 3 separate days, spread over 3 weeks) as in previous years, we will conduct interviews for all students in all year levels on the same day (from 10:30 am to 8:30pm).  These conferences will be in place of the regular timetabled classes, and students will be expected to attend interviews with their parents in full school uniform (in lieu of the normal school day).  Conferences for Semester 1 will be held on Wednesday 22 April; Semester Two interviews are scheduled for Tuesday 1 September.

 

We hope these changes will minimise interruptions to the day-to-day academic program at the school and reduce the number of times parents need to come to the College (as many families have students spread across a range of year levels).  Bookings will be made on a ‘first in, first served’ basis, however these new arrangements create more booking times for most teachers, reducing the likelihood that your child’s teachers will not be available to meet with you.

 

More information about these new arrangements will be provided later in Term 1.

CHROMEBOOKS

All students in Years 7, 8, 10 and 11 will now have a Chromebook to support their learning at McKinnon.  The following expectations have been explained to students:

  • Chromebooks are provided for educational purposes; students’ use of these Chromebooks (and all ICT resources such as gmail, Google docs, etc) must be appropriate at all times, regarding the language that is used, the online content students access, etc.
  • Students should assume that nothing is private when using their Chromebook at school; internet access is filtered and monitored, and inappropriate content is automatically reported to the Principal team.
  • Students are expected to bring their Chromebook to every class, every day, just as they would bring books, pencils, calculators, etc (unless explicitly advised otherwise in advance by their teacher).
  • Students should ensure their Chromebook is fully charged overnight; the battery will support around 7-8 hours use, if fully charged.
  • Students must never sign in to the school’s network using another person's Chromebook, and they should not permit others to use their Chromebook at school.
  • The Chromebook should be stored securely - in students’ lockers when not in use and in their bag when travelling to and from school.

HOMEWORK

At this point in the year it is important that parents check that your child is getting into the correct habits with their homework.  The school diary has recommended homework hours stated for each year level.  These suggested times should not just be used to finish set tasks from class but also to review topics covered in class and complete wider reading.

 

Students are encouraged to write all deadlines in their diary and parents are encouraged to check diary entries, so that students can meet all deadlines punctually.

 

With all students in Years 9 to 12 having exams in June and/or November, effective revision skills are essential.  If no homework has been set on a night, students should revise work already completed so that revision is not left to the last minute.

EXCURSIONS

Parental consent is required for students to participate in any excursion or camp, and consent is usually required around at least one week prior to the excursion taking place. Compass displays any events for which consent is required, with an alert under the ‘My News’ heading on the Compass homepage. The due date for parental consent appears on the printed consent forms and online.

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS

School photographs will be taken throughout the day on Friday 13 February.  This will cause some disruption to the College’s regular program; please ensure your child attends in correct summer uniform.  

 

Photo order envelopes will be distributed to all students in the coming days, to be returned directly to the photographers by each student when they have their photo taken.

2015 VACCINATIONS

In 2015 three major changes to the vaccine program will impact on parents of secondary school students in Victoria:

 

1. The Glen Eira City Council’s immunisation service may contact you about the secondary school vaccine program.  Schools have been authorised to provide parent contact details to local councils for this purpose. Contact the school nurse at jocelynp@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au by 28 February if you do not want your contact details given to the Glen Eira City Council.

 

2. In 2015 the vaccine that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough will be offered to all students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10. From 2016, this vaccine will be offered to Year 7 students only. This will provide earlier protection from these diseases.

 

3. The time-limited human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program for Year 9 boys was completed in December 2014.  HPV vaccine will continue to be offered to all students (both male and female) in Year 7 from 2015.

 

A vaccine consent form should be returned to the General Office by 12 February, 2015.  You will need to complete and return the form regardless of whether your child is being immunised at school.  If you have not returned the form please do so as soon as possible.  To learn more about the changes, the diseases, the vaccines, or how you can prepare your child for vaccination go to immunehero.health.vic.gov.au.