Dear Families,

Welcome back to what has been a smooth start to Term 2, with students and teachers engaged in learning in class, as well as a range of exciting and interesting extra-curricular activities.

Open House, Monday 1st May

On Monday 1st May we had our Open House with morning tours and an interactive tour in the evening, where parents and prospective students experienced classroom activities in various subjects. This was a great night with over 400 people attending to have a look at our amazing school. The night was successful mainly due to all the staff and students who were able to talk about some of the fantastic learning opportunities that exist at Victoria University Secondary College. A special thanks to our Junior Campus Captains and Vice Captains for their work on the night as MC’s and the 90+ students who volunteered to help. Thank you also to Mr Dowie for his organisation of the day and ensuring that the entire event and tours went well.

Year 10 Careers Panel - seeking contributors

Would you be interested in sharing your career journey with our Year 10 students? We are looking for people in the workforce who would be willing to attend our Careers Panel event on Thursday 20th July from 2-3pm at the Senior Campus. You'll be speaking to our students about your profession, your role and work environment, and the pathways you took to get there. We would love to hear from members of our school community who would like to share their experiences. Please see the invitation below for details on how to register.

ANZAC Assemblies

As the College Principal I was incredibly proud of our Junior Campus Captains and Vice Captains on Wednesday 26th April as they honoured past and present Australian and New Zealand soldiers at our ANZAC commemorative assembly.

I would like to congratulate Ms Wooles for organising the event and our students who spoke eloquently in front of a large crowd of guests, including staff, parents and students. A huge thanks to our special guest John Johnson (President of Keilor East RSL and Order of Australia Medal Recipient) for attending and addressing the students at the assembly. The event was a very moving tribute and I thank the staff who assisted and supported the students who participated.

Whole School Curriculum Day, Wednesday 31st May

We are in the process of organising our whole school pupil free Curriculum Day, for Wednesday 31st May. All staff will participate in a range of professional learning activities. The focus of the morning will be on embedding a whole school understanding and approach to our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support model.

In the afternoon all staff will be trained in First Aid and the reason for this is that teachers and school staff have lots of responsibilities that go beyond providing quality education. One of these is to make sure that students remain safe while they are on school premises, as well as when attending excursions and other off campus events.

I look forward to reporting back to the school community on how the curriculum day went.

Semester One Exams

Students will commence their semester one exams on Thursday 1st June. This is an important process for students to ascertain their level of achievement for each of their subjects and offers a great opportunity to plan for the next stages of their senior schooling. The results are key to their continued growth.

Unit 3 exams for VCE (Year 12) students will run during week 9 of Term 2. Exam timetables will be provided to all the students in the next few weeks. Following the exam period, Semester 2 will begin on Tuesday 13th June.

Student Attitudes to School Survey

The Attitudes to School survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training. The survey assists schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve every child's schooling experience.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will commence in week 3 of Term 2. The survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.

Students from all year levels (7 to 12) will participate in the survey. Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool.

A summary of the survey results will be reported back to the school in Term 3 in our school newsletter. Last year we used the survey results to plan new programs, activities and initiatives.

Student’s privacy is our priority. Your child is provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used by the Department to combine data for research purposes only. Your child’s privacy and the confidentiality of your child’s survey responses will be always protected. No identifiable personal data is included in the survey response file.

Cancer Council Biggest Morning Tea – Thursday 25th May 2023

The College we will be taking part in the Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for cancer research. The morning tea will be in tribute to our beautiful Julie Smith who served as the College Board Vice President for seven years and passed away from cancer, and to all those heroes who have suffered or died from this dreadful disease.

Students' earphones/headphones

Parents/carers and students are advised that the College Board has endorsed a change to our Mobile Phones - Student Use Policy to ban the use of earphones/headphones during school hours unless the student has their teacher's permission to use them.

Students will have their earphones/headphones confiscated if they are using them in class without permission, or during recess or lunchtime, unless they are a Year 12 student and they are being used for studying purposes in the study centre. Students may continue to use their earphones/headphones with their laptops during class with permission from their teacher.

Please see the amended policy below which is also available on our website.

VCE Extension Tutoring

This year the Academic Enrichment Leading Teacher and I decided to implement a new initiative to extend VCE students who have been identified by their subject teachers as potentially being able to achieve scores of 40 or more in their subject areas.

We have employed several tutors, who are secondary school graduates who have previously achieved very high results in their VCE subjects. The tutors will work with small groups of capable and motivated Year 12 students on a weekly basis from the beginning of Term 2 at our Senior Campus for the remainder of the year.

The role of the tutor’s work is to extend students’ content knowledge and skills by supporting them to achieve higher level outcomes, and motivate them to attain highly on SACs and end of year exams.

The names of the tutors and the subject areas they will be tutoring are as follows:

Paige Varney (Media), Phoebe Mikhail (General Maths), Zoe Beazley (Psychology; EAL; English; Extended Investigation), Sarah Law (Biology; Chemistry), Cassandra Davidson (Legal Studies; Art), Paris Tran (Vis Com), Tom Carne (Philosophy; Literature; History), Paula Nguyen (Health & Human Development).

Uniform Reminder

We are generally very pleased with the way our students are presenting in their uniform but as we move into the colder months, it is important to check whether your child has enough winter uniform. Families are also reminded of our strict requirements regarding jackets. Please do not send your child to school with a hoodie or non-uniform item under their school uniform. Students wearing non-uniform items will be asked to remove items so that they are uniform-compliant. The only jacket that students are permitted to wear with their school uniform is the College Blazer which can be purchased from PSW and should be worn to and from school. Students can layer a white t-shirt under their school uniform, and with a jumper and the College Blazer should be able to remain warm during the colder months. The school scarf is also recommended and can be purchased from the College office for $15. No other scarves are permitted.

The Importance of School Attendance

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your teenager’s education. Students learn new things at school every day - missing school puts them behind. Your child will develop everyday habits that are necessary to succeed when they leave school, whether in the workplace or in further study.

Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their relationships with other students and lead to social isolation. It is never too late to improve attendance. Even in the middle years, when school can seem the most challenging for students and when attendance rates can be at their lowest, going to school more often can make a big difference. Every Day Counts. Schools are there to help. If you’re having attendance issues with your child, speak to your child's Coordinator about ways to address these issues.

Lateness

A reminder of how important it is that students are fully prepared for learning. Part of this is being punctual to all classes. Please support your child’s learning by ensuring that they arrive at school with plenty of time to get the correct books and equipment, and be in class on time ready for homegroup or period 1. We are continuing to run lateness blitzes and will contact parents/carers where there are issues with student punctuality.

College Board Office Bearers

I am very pleased to announce our College Board office bearers for 2023:

President - Ellen Arnott

Vice President - Maria Kiselis

Treasurer - Tupuna Ngaue

Thank you to our College Board members for your commitment and service this year.

Elaine Hazim

College Principal

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Child Safety at VUSC

Victoria University Secondary College is committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students:

Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
Child Safety Code of Conduct
Child Safe Standards Risk Register
Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure

All of our policies are available on our school website here. As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at VUSC, we welcome and encourage your feedback.

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