Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

General Achievement Test (GAT) 

As previously communicated, from 2023 we will be transitioning the VCE and VCAL to a new integrated senior secondary certificate. As part of the reform of the VCE and VCAL system, Victorian senior secondary students will this year have their literacy and numeracy skills measured against new standards in the redeveloped GAT.

The new standards will indicate whether students have demonstrated the literacy and numeracy skills typically expected of someone completing their secondary schooling – giving another indication of their readiness to move on to further education, training or employment.

The standards for literacy and numeracy are derived from Level 3 of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). The ACSF is a national framework that describes individual’s performance in the five core skills of learning, reading, writing, oral communication and numeracy arranged into a series of progressively complex levels. The redeveloped GAT follows a comprehensive review conducted by the VCAA. It will see Victoria join other jurisdictions who already incorporate literacy and numeracy standards as part of their senior secondary reporting. The GAT will provide specific information on each student's key skills for life beyond school.

On Wednesday 7 September, all Year 12 VCAL (Section A only) and VCE students and any Year 11 student studying a unit 3-4 sequence in VCE, or VET (Section A and B) were required to sit the GAT taking place in our Gym. The redeveloped GAT was divided into two sections:

Section A – assessing literacy and numeracy skills. This session ran from 9.30-11.45 am and involved two writing tasks, 50 multiple choice questions testing numeracy skills and 50 multiple choice questions testing literacy skills.

Section B - after a 1.5 hour break our VCE and scored VET students returned for Section B from 1.15pm to 3pm. This section is a test of general knowledge assessing skills in mathematics, science, technology, the arts and humanities, with an increased focus on critical and creative thinking skills. There was one writing task to complete and 50 multiple choice questions. 

Congratulations to all students who took part in the GAT this year. It was a new experience for VCAL students having to complete this for the first time under exam conditions in the Gym with external supervisors, and a new challenge for our VCE and scored VET students who needed to complete the two sections and maintain their concentration and motivation levels over the duration of the day. 

As per previous years the GAT results will also be used to help calculate a student’s Derived Examination Score for any student whose exam performance is affected by illness, accident or personal trauma. The GAT results are also used to help validate the accuracy of school based and external assessments. We always encourage students to strive for their personal best in completing the GAT, putting in 100% effort, just as they would for a SAC or exam. 

Year 12 Practice Exams and Term 4 arrangements in lead up to the Final exams

Congratulations to all our Year 12 teachers and students who have competed the course work for Unit 3 and 4 and are now conducting their practice exams this week in the Gym. These practice exams hold more significance this year given our students have not had the opportunity to complete an exam in the gym since Year 9 NAPLAN, due to modifications made in response to remote learning.

Teacher will mark the exams over the holidays to have feedback ready for students in the first week back of Term 4.  Teachers will then be able to focus on some solid revision work with students in all classes over the first three weeks of Term 4. Students are required to attend classes up until and including Monday 24 October. Tuesday 25 October will be a study day at home to prepare for the English exam on Wednesday 26 October. 

We have our final Year 12 assembly and celebration day on Tuesday 18 October; however, students are expected back in classes on Wednesday 19 October. After the English exam, students can be onsite to study and/or see their respective teachers for assistance. Teachers may continue to run classes in the lead up to their respective exam.  The final exams are held onsite in the Gym and in S block. 

Facility Development Update 

I have now received the updated information from the architects and Victorian School Building Authority about the new scope of works and costings, and the revised construction program for our new outdoor courts. It has become very complicated overcoming the poor soil conditions and a lot more expensive that originally budgeted for. After several options were explored by the architects and engineers the following has been determined: due to the astronomical price increases (30-40% increase) and the complicated nature of the project, we can now only have three courts instead of four, and the school needs to contribute $177,000 towards this project. This is not the news we were hoping for, but we have no choice but to proceed. To get a fourth court it was going to cost an additional $230,000 which the school is not able to fund. The three courts will all be multipurpose with plexipave finish, line marking for basketball, netball and volleyball with the associated equipment. There will also be a new fence around the perimeter. In the space left from not having a fourth court, we will fence off and establish grass in this area to make a soccer pitch for use in PE/Sport classes and at lunchtime. Once work starts on the redevelopment, it is estimated to take 6-8 weeks to complete. 

Reporting – Progress Check No.5

Our next round of progress checks will be released on the student and parent portal of Compass this Friday. These progress checks focus on our students’ learning behaviours which link to our school values, their attendance and their academic progress.  Please download and discuss with your child/ren. In addition, continuously during the semester, students will receive specific written feedback from their teachers on benchmark tasks and SACs in which they will be given some class time to reflect and identify areas for improvement.  Please ask your child/ren about the feedback they have received this term on their benchmark tasks and SACs.

NAPLAN results

Overall, our results were very positive in comparison to like schools, network schools and the state across all measures on NAPLAN. In terms of the targets we set in our Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plans, we focus mainly on our Year 9 results as Year 7 is more a reflection of their last couple of years in primary school.  However, the Year 7 data is still utilised by our Year 7 and 8 teams. We have a whole school literacy focus on writing and it was particularly pleasing to see the significant improvement made in our NAPLAN writing results this year. 

This week, households of all Year 7 and 9 students will receive a copy of their individual results for NAPLAN.  They were mailed last week. If you have not received them by the end of the week, please contact the school at the start of next term.  Results are now also available on Compass for parents/carers to review with their child/ren.  To review the results, parents/carers will need to login to Compass, open the profile of their student, and click on the Analytics tab near the top of the screen.  A visual will appear (similar to a spider web) for you to review.  

The teacher teams within the middle school have received copies of the results for our Year 7 and 9 students to utilise in conjunction with the PAT testing (English) and Maths Essential testing program that already exists within the College and other assessment data, in their planning for their respective classes over the rest of the year and into our 2023 Headstart program beginning on November 21. It is important to note these results are from the online NAPLAN tests conducted in May. From 2023, NAPLAN tests are to be conducted in March. 

Congratulations to the following Year 9 students for receiving a NAPLAN Excellence achievement award from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. These will be presented to students in the Year 9 assembly in Week 1 of next term.

COVID cases

We are now only getting a few cases reported weekly and therefore I have decided to not continue my daily email update and give everyone a break from these emails. Please continue to report any cases to the school and remain vigilant in the testing of students if they have symptoms and please keep your child at home if not feeling well. We still have plenty of boxes of RATs if any family/student needs to collect more. We are also well stocked in masks if any student would like to collect one to wear during the day at school. 

COVID-19 isolation requirements have changed

Any student or staff member who tests positive to COVID-19 must now isolate for a minimum of 5 days instead of 7. If they are asymptomatic, they may return to school on day 6. If they are symptomatic, they must remain in isolation until day 7. If they have symptoms after 7 days, they are strongly advised to stay home until their symptoms have resolved.

As an additional risk mitigation, the Department of Health strongly recommends that those leaving isolation wear a face mask when away from home, both indoors and outdoors, and when they cannot physically distance. Those leaving isolation on day 6 should wear a mask for 5 days but particularly the first 2 days. Those leaving isolation on day 7 should wear a mask for 4 days but particularly the first 2 days.

Those leaving isolation should consider taking a rapid antigen test before attending school.

Fit to Drive Program

The College continues to fund this special annual program for all our Year 11 students to participate in. It was held last Tuesday and was run by Victorian Traffic Safety Education and the City of Kingston. The program is facilitated by trained University students known as peer facilitators or Road Safety Ambassadors. Fit to Drive (f2d) is a community program for young people that concentrates on personal safety and responsibility, giving them strategies to make them safer on the road. The program actively encourages and empowers young people as road users to look after themselves and their friends and assists young people to assert themselves in high-risk situations where, for example, a driver is speeding or impaired. The program also features a Police presentation of factual information focussing on speed, drugs, alcohol and fatigue. Some of the activities involved the emergency services (MFB/CFA) delivering a real-life case study where the young people make decisions about how to avoid dangerous outcomes. Thanks to Year 11 Coordinator Robyn Wilson for organising this program. It was most worthwhile for our students to be involved in and they have been encouraged to discuss the content of the sessions and what they got out of their involvement with their parents. 

Chess Tournament 

This week on Tuesday we hosted an Interschool Chess competition run by Chess Victoria from 9.00 am - 2.30 pm in the EZ. Thanks to Chris Tze for organising this wonderful opportunity for our students to compete against other schools. There were over 70 students competing with 15 students from Mordialloc College. It was mainly private schools that elected to join us in this zonal competition, hosted by the international grand master, Leonard Sandler. This tournament will lead to both state and national finals. 

Mordi Idol

After two years of our online events for Mordi Idol, we look forward to continuing this tradition as an end of Term 3 celebratory event for the whole school live in the Gym during period 4 on Thursday afternoon. Students over the past couple of weeks have had the opportunity to submit an entry to our Performing Arts Coordinator, Cameron Young. I will be judging, along with our Middle School captains, Liliana and Kyle to award first, second and third place. 

Central Australia Camp

On Monday we had 70 students and 8 staff head off on our first Central Australia Camp. They will be away for 10 days returning on Tuesday 20 September. Thanks to Georgia Davey for organising all the paperwork for region approval supported by Assistant Principal, Tracey Bastin. A special thanks to the staff attending to make this wonderful opportunity possible for our Years 9-11 students who elected to participate. Joining Georgia are Andrew Potter, Madeline Hatton, Julia Phillips, Kelly Scurrah, Indigo Yorke, Megan Furphy and Aaron Davis. 

Staffing Term 4

We are farewelling three staff members at the end of this term:

Daniel Williams

Daniel has been a teacher here for 14 years and has held several leadership roles, most recently as Director of Middle School and now Acting Assistant Principal this term. Daniel has a young family and lives 50-60 minutes away so it has been his priority to secure a position closer to home. He has been able to do this earlier than expected and is leaving at the end of this term. I would like to thank Daniel for his excellent work as a teacher and leader at the College over his time here and wish him the very best for the future at Cranbourne East SC.

Daniel will continue to teach his Year 12 PE class over the first 3 weeks of Term 4 but will be officially leaving us at the end of this term. 

Simon Cummins, one of our leading teachers, has been appointed Acting Assistant Principal until the successful substantive appointment (we are currently working through the selection process to replace Andrew Moffat) can start. 

Janni Newson

Janni, who is in her third year at the College, has been appointed to a public service role Commission for Children and Young People – Manager, Koori Advisory & Engagement. This role works directly with the Aboriginal Commissioner for Children and Young People leading a small team (<10) to consult with community, gather data, evidence, develop stakeholder relationships and conduct reviews regarding Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC, Child Protection and Youth Justice system starting from Term 4. Janni is also one of my leaders, as an Instructional Coach at Years 9&10. This position was advertised internally with Aaron Davis appointed to this leadership role from Term 4. We are currently working through the recruitment process for an Accounting/Business Management teacher to start next term. 

Katie Haywood

Katie works two days a week here as a Youth Worker and has recently undertaken further studies for a Master of Social Work. She wants to focus on this along with some tutorial work at the University where she is studying. Katie has been a fantastic addition to our wellbeing team and will be missed. We are currently working through the recruitment process to replace her. 

Daniel Mayadas 

For the first 7 weeks Daniel is taking LWOP to care for his young family while his partner returns to the workforce. He will return in time for our 2023 Headstart program. Mick Haber returns from LSL and will be taking Daniel’s classes. Mick will also resume his duties as Year 9 YLC with Madeline Hatton as his assistant. 

I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break. 

Michelle Roberts

Principal