Assistant Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

A big hello to the Mordialloc College school community! It’s been a whirlwind but positive start to the school year. Firstly, a huge thank you to our staff, students and families for your patience and adaptability during the ongoing COVID changes at the start of the year. The return of masks in classrooms and addition of classroom ventilation and Rapid Antigen testing has taught us that things can change quickly and practicing COVID-safe behaviours is so important. 

Our Year 7’s have made a great start to Mordialloc College life and have had a busy few weeks. They have had their first taste of team teaching, participated in the ‘Exsight Sports’ program for a greater understanding about everyday life, sports and inclusion strategies for those with a vision impairment and they ‘unleashed greatness’ last week at The Summit Camp. Our Year 7 Coordinators, Mr Andrew Potter and Mrs Liz McConville, along with a skilled Year 7 teaching team and the very experienced Head of Middle School, Mr Daniel Williams, will be there all the way to support this important period of your child’s educational life. 

Welcome back to all of our Year 8 and 9 students for 2021, it’s been great to see you all recharged and ready to learn. As part of our Communication program our Year 8 students participated in the ‘Courage to Care’ incursion to inform and further educate about the dangers of prejudice, racism and discrimination. They learnt that every individual can make a difference and can transform ‘bystander’ behaviour to ‘upstander’ behaviour and that they can also support understanding, acceptance and inclusion.    

The start to this year has been smooth, thanks to the hard work of our Year 8 Coordinators, Ms Julia Hockey and Ms Georgia Davey, and Year 9 Coordinators, Mr Mick Haber and Ms Madeline Hatton, with students clearly embracing the College values, as well as the academic challenges of the new year. 

It is always important to continue to grow as a learner in each new stage of your educational journey. There should be no year that this growth stagnates, even when Year 12 seems so far in the distance.  These are the years of consolidating good work habits, both in the classroom and in the development of study outside the classroom. It is also the time when friendships continue to develop and positive relationships are formed with teachers, as a true learning partnership between student and teacher is vital for success later in your educational journey. These middle years of schooling are as important as any other stage of your education. Embrace the challenges, have some fun and continue to grow as a learner and as a positive and active member of the Mordialloc College community.

A growing school population has also seen a much busier carpark and surrounding area during drop off and pick up times. Parents please be mindful of the parking areas to ensure a smooth drop off and pick up of students, also please try and keep below the speed limit in the surrounding streets to ensure the safety of our students and the general public. Students, a reminder of bike safety, and being mindful of cars and the public in our local streets. Our building works have also seen a busier central courtyard area. Students, we encourage you enjoy the wide available spaces on the oval and our Year 7 and Year 12 students are able to ultilise the greenspace at the front of the school. 

Welcome to our new tutors Sam O’Rourke (Literacy), Nathaniel Lamb (Literacy), Phil Steinberg (Numeracy) and welcome back to Rosemary Russo (Numeracy) who started with us in Semester 2 last year. The tutors provided extra support to students whose learning was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. This is part of the largest initiative in the state's history to provide students with extra targeted support, with $480 million being invested in the initiative to allow this program to run in schools during 2021 and 2022. The tutors are qualified teachers and work in the classroom with individuals and small groups of students whose data indicates they were impacted during remote learning. Parents/Carers will be informed in Term 1 if their child meets the criteria. The tutoring program will work alongside our numerous support programs already in place in the school including: Year 7 Intervention program, Year 8, 9 and 10 MYLNS (Middle Year Literacy and Numeracy Support) program, Year 9 Literacy and Numeracy support elective and our Senior School study program. 

A big thank you to our staff and students who assisted with the publicity photo shoot in Week 2. For me, it was a wonderful day to spend with our Year 7 – 12 students around the College showcasing so many areas within the College that make our school shine. There were a lot of laughs and the students were a credit to the College. We have hundreds of photos that will be used in our 2022 / 2023 promotional material, in our College Newsletters and Yearbook, on our updated College Website and on our Mordialloc College Facebook and Instagram pages. 

This week was another busy week for the Mordialloc Community:

• Year 7 Meet and Greet. We held our ‘Meet and Greet’ evening with our Year 7 parents this week and a big thank you goes to our staff who welcomed our Year 7 parents to the College. 
• School Photos. With our larger student population it was a busy day yesterday to get through class photos and student portraits. We have photo catch up day on Friday. Thank you to our photo coordinator, Liz Commons, for her smooth organisation.   
• Census Week. A reminder to all students and parents that it is not ok to be away or later without a medical certificate! Please support the school in sending through medical certificates to update our records and keeping family holidays to school holiday times. Thank you for your communication with the College with the additional layer for absences relating to COVID positive results and COVID isolation. If you are unsure please contact the General Office or the relevant Year Level Coordinator.  Daily attendance is important for all learners and to succeed in education consistent attendance is important to ensure students do not fall behind.  You should have received the 2022 update of our booklet: Attendance Matters – a parent’s guide. If you are having difficulty getting your child to school, please contact the Wellbeing Team at the College or Year Level Coordinator to discuss how we can assist you.
• Swimming Sports! We’re looking forward to seeing the students dressed in House colours and ready to compete tomorrow. A huge thanks to our Sports Carnival Coordinator, Cory Watters, and to all of the staff who will keep a very full swimming program running like clockwork. 

Finally I’d like to thank all of the staff, students and the wider school community for their support of each other and making the start of 2022 such a positive one. Stay safe. 

Tracey Bastin

Assistant Principal