College Updates
Mini School Staff for 2023
Introducing the key staff of our Mini School teams for 2023.
Junior School
L-R: Deanna Korab - Administration
Riley Baldi - Student Support Officer
Stacey Martin - Student Support Officer
Joe Licciardello - Year 7 Coordinator
Rachel Smithson - Year 8 Coordinator
Kristy Bannister - Junior School Leader
Middle School
L-R: Andrea Coad - Administration
Harry Pepper - Student Support Officer
Julie Sheahey - Year 9 Coordinator
Kerrie Logan - Year 10 Coordinator
Jason Sands - Middle School Coordinator
Darren Mitchell - Middle School Leader
Senior School
L-R: Julie Jeffrey - Administration
Amy Jones - Student Support Officer
Gary Garside - Year 11 Coordinator
Sarah Giessler - Year 12 Coordinator
Nicole Taylor - Senior School Leader
2023 School Captains
Our 2023 student leaders were elected at the end of 2022 but would like to take the chance to reintroduce them here and thank them for their efforts so far.
Introducing Ashley Paul, Jesse Pheeney, Bailey Wilson and Jacob Ashworth .
NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2023 for Years 7 and 9 will occur between Wednesday 15 and Monday 27 March. The online testing platform is adaptive, ensuring that each test is more accurately pitched to individual student ability levels. NAPLAN tests the skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and numeracy. Literacy and numeracy skills are a critical foundation for other learning and for productive and rewarding participation in the larger community.
It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing and failing, but about assessing your child’s learning progress.
- At the classroom level, NAPLAN is one of several important tools used by teachers to measure your child’s progress. Teachers use this information to challenge high performing students and identify students who require extra support. Importantly, NAPLAN starts a conversation about strategies to best support your child’s future learning.
- Schools use NAPLAN results to identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching programs and to set goals for numeracy and literacy. Programs can be changed and modified for different year level needs.
- NAPLAN results are directly linked to the funding support Lowanna receives for programs, so it is essential that all students complete NAPLAN if we are to continue to receive this vital support.
- Although no preparation or study is required, the NAPLAN tests expose your child to a formal testing process which will enable them to build academic resilience and stamina for later years.
- In keeping with Lowanna’s culture of high expectations, NAPLAN data will be used to recognise and celebrate student growth and achievement.
NAPLAN is about driving student growth and improvement at Lowanna. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that your child actively participates in NAPLAN. Because of the ongoing educational impacts of the global COVID pandemic, the information Lowanna obtains from the tests this year will be even more vital in determining educational interventions to support future success for every one of our students.
Please, help us, help your children.
NAPLAN Timetable
Please make sure you bring a charged laptop each day for each session
Medical Action Plans
Just a reminder to supply Lowanna’s First Aid team with your child’s medical action plans.
For your convenience, we have attached the following links for action plans. Please note that a medical practitioner must fill out and sign the document before returning to the school.
Anaphylaxis action Plans:https://www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/ascia-action-plan-for-anaphylaxis
Asthma Action Plans:
https://asthma.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AA2022_Care-Plan-for-Schools-A4_v2_editable.pdf
Diabetic Action Plans:
Epilepsy & seizure Management Plans:
Art Update
In VCE Arts, students are starting developmental work and experimenting with materials and techniques to develop their visual language for their ideas and themes in their folios.
Students in Ceramics in Years 9 and 10 are finishing up glazing their tiles and starting to plan for their mug and planter projects. Students are learning how to use visual imagery as inspiration and annotate their drawings and ideas.
Music Update
Year 7s are starting off the year by learning about some of the elements of music – Beat and Rhythm through practical and theoretical tasks. They are also beginning to learn chords on various classroom instruments, starting with ukulele. Classes are learning a range of songs from I’m yours to Hallelujah. Watch this space for some recordings in the future.
Year 8s are continuing their learning from last year by jumping straight into class bands. Year 8 Music Performance classes are learning about the Blues genre and beginning to play the 12 bar blues in preparation for the lyric writing assessment task. Year 8 Music Excellence classes are learning a variety of songs including Counting Stars.
Lunchtime Sports
Lunchtime Sports are back in the Gym for Year 7 and 8 students on Tuesdays, and Years 9-12 on Thursdays.
Come along, participate in social physical activities and earn house points for your house. Every student in attendance will earn points for their house. See you there!
Nutritional Consults
Danielle from Standout Health and Nutrition has recently had nutritional consults with Year 7 and 8 Sports Academy students where they have been discussing what foods provide us with nutrition as well as which foods provide protein in diets. Each student was given a healthy swaps page with some handwritten notes on things they can individually work on.
A common trend found when working with the students was that sugar was in abundance in a lot of processed snacks and cereals. To address this, Danielle has suggested students reconsider these breakfast cereal choice, such as Nutri-Grain to muesli/granola and yoghurt or Nutella toast to a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese, or avocado on toast (wholegrain of course!)
Danielle advised that a great way to cut back on the processed lunch box snacks is to focus on protein adding yoghurt, nuts, beef jerky or hummus and crackers to lunchboxes along with some fruit will be sure to fill their hungry bellies.
Danielle will meet with the students later in the year to see their progress and give more advice.
Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.