Principal's Message
Dear Families,
We are unfortunately in a similar situation now to last year with the current lockdown in place and remote learning for students. I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well. All students will be learning from home from now on until lockdown ends.
I will let everyone know via Compass when staff and students should return to school. School offices will remain open with limited staff during lockdown.
Students will follow their normal timetable and will be directed by their teachers via Microsoft Teams. Any parent/guardian who is an essential worker and would like their child to attend on-site schooling because they are unable to be supervised at home and no other arrangements can be made, must contact the school immediately.
Multicultural Day Celebrations
On Friday 21st May we were blessed with beautiful weather to celebrate our multicultural day event!
The Year 12 VCAL students spent a great deal of time and effort to organise the day as part of their unit assessment, ensuring that the activities went extremely well at both campuses. I told them they made HISTORY as no other student-run event has ever run so smoothly nor had the whole college involved on the day.
A massive congratulations goes to Year 12 VCAL students Michael Jafari, Alailisa Talisa Lealea, Bella Aleni, Simon Thing Thaih, Leporo Mote, Hodan Abdi Shakuur, Olivia Plunkett, Vy Nguyen, Derhan Ozhan and Fatima Roshan, as well as others who assisted on the day. The team raised $1208 for State Schools Relief - a fantastic effort!
The singing and dancing performances and the various activities that ran on the day at both campuses were amazing.
I would like to thank Ms Stewart and her SRC students for taking over the BBQ at the Junior Campus, Ms Orford and her music department who are ever dependable and amazing and Ms Kelly and the VCAL teachers for supporting the students with their project.
Upcoming Exams
Due to remote learning, the following changes have been made to upcoming exams this term:
Year 7 - 9 Exams - will take place in normal class time with classroom teachers upon returning to school from remote learning. Further detail will be provided to students by their classroom teachers.
Year 10 - 11 Exams - to run when students return on site. More information will be provided via Compass.
Year 12 VCE exams at this stage remain unchanged and are still scheduled to run onsite from 22 - 25 June.
At recent assemblies, Year Level Co-ordinators gave very clear advice to students about how to prepare for tests and exams, and about what effective study practices look like.
Three key actions for success are:
- Complete all of the set work/homework
- Make multiple choice topic/chapter summaries
- Do practise test or exam questions
We also encourage students to see their teachers for extra help and support with their work.
Student Absences
A reminder to students and families that the school requires attendance of at least 90% in order to pass subjects, whether this be at school or during remote learning.
If your child is absent we require either a note signed by the parent/guardian or a phone call explaining the reason for the absence. The note needs to include your child’s name, their class and the date of the absence. If your child has attended a medical appointment, please ask for a medical certificate as that will not count as an unexplained absence. The note (and certificate if applicable) needs to be brought to school on the day the student returns to school.
You may also ring our Absence Hotline on 8312 0243 and leave a message explaining your child’s absence with the school’s attendance officer.
Congratulations
A huge congratulations to Arsemma Tigistu of 8F for winning an award in the COVID Writing Competition recently! Arsemma was presented with her award and prize at the Keilor East Rotary Club awards event which was attended by Ms Vass, Mr Leyland and Ms Hazim. Well done Arsemma!
Congratulations also to Mr Troy and his wife Jess on the recent birth of their baby daughter Beatrice! We wish them all the very best as they enter parenthood and enjoy making special memories with their new bundle of joy.
Premier's Reading Challenge
Well done to Paige Albury, Tushar Deo, Jypsi Vitiello and Caitlyn Lung who have successfully completed the Premiers' Reading Challenge! The challenge ends on the last day of term 3 and all Year 7-10 students are encouraged to read as many books as they can during this time.
Brimbank Library Mural Launch
Recently I attended the official launch of the Brimbank Library Mural together with Mr Eugenio. Congratulations to Year 9 students Thu Nguyen, Talia Huynh, Kamila Nasyrebova, Rebecca Mastaky and Bilal Qalib for their amazing work which is admired daily by library users and the public!
Staff Professional Development Day - Wednesday 5th May
Our Professional Development Day was based on Critical Reading and Writing strategies. Improving literacy (reading, writing and vocabulary) is one of our major goals for this year. Vocabulary knowledge is fundamental to being an independent and successful reader and writer. Improving student’s numeracy skills through differentiation using Centres maths lessons is also another one of our major goals.
Judy Douglas, a Literacy Consultant and Chris Coombes, a Numeracy Consultant along with our Teaching and Learning Coach, Athena Vass and James Finnigan, our Numeracy Leader planned the day together.
It was a very productive day for our staff. Both the Literacy and Numeracy teams had valuable planning time in the afternoon where they planned for critical reading, writing and centres lessons for their classes collaboratively.
NAPLAN
NAPLAN testing occurred this term for all Year 7 and Year 9 students. Areas that were tested were Language Conventions (spelling and grammar), Writing, Reading and Numeracy. Students in Year 9 who show high growth will receive a signed certificate from the State Government.
The NAPLAN tests provides the school with invaluable information about how much our students are improving and acts as a guide for us to determine the areas we need to focus on in the future to improve our students’ learning outcomes.
Compass Parent Information Night
The College recently ran an information night for families from non-English speaking backgrounds to learn how to access information about their child on Compass. This was a very successful evening and helped many of our families see the importance of using the school management software. If you need assistance to access Compass, please contact the general office.
New School
We are excited to see further progress of our new school buildings and sporting facilities at Cairnlea. We are currently choosing furniture and expect to give a further update to families next term.
Please take care of yourselves and each other. I look forward to seeing you all when we return on site.
Elaine Hazim
College Principal
*******************************************************************************************
Child Safety at VUSC
Victoria University Secondary College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.
Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.
Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy.
- Commitment to Child Safety
- Child Safety Policy
- Child Safety Code of Conduct
- Child Protection Policy and Procedures