Senior School Report

We are at the end Term 3, and the end of unit exams are fast approaching. The Year 12 VCAA external exams start on Wednesday 30 October and the Year 11 exams start on Monday -4 November.

It is also one of the busiest times for our Year 11 students at St Albans Secondary College. Not only are they finishing their Year 11 exams or work placements, they will also be starting in their new subjects for 2020.

Our teachers have worked on their Term 3 Year 11 Progress Reports, which our Year Level Coordinators use to monitor student progress and phone home to parents as required. The final Year 12 Progress reports have been completed by the teachers and coordinators are in the process of contacting parents as required to discuss any concerns they may have become aware of.

Some important dates that the Senior Sub School need to make families aware of:

Year 11 Students

Last Day of Year 11 Classes: Friday 1 November 2019

All Year 11 students will have an assembly during periods 5 and 6 where students will be receiving awards, and the music students will be performing.

Monday 4 November until Wednesday 13 November: Year 11 VCE Exams
Thursday 14 November until Wednesday 27 November: Year 12 VCE Orientation (Compulsory)
Wednesday 6 November until Friday 15 November: Year 11 VCAL Work Placement
Monday 18 November to Wednesday 20 November – Year 11 into Year 12 VCAL Orientation (Compulsory)

Year 12 Students

During the September holidays, Victoria University are conducting Revision Lectures for some subjects that are free of charge to our students. Students and their families were notified through Compass posts and coordinator visited classes and encouraged students to register and attend the lectures.

Their ‘September Exams’ time table has been distributed. All year 12 students will be doing practice exams during the second week of their September holidays. It is compulsory for students who are doing their external exams to attend.

Last Day of Year 12 Classes

VCAL: Monday 21 October
VCE: Tuesday 22 October
Final Assembly and Celebration – Wednesday 23 October 2019 periods 1 and 2. This is when we have our whole school assembly where our Year 12 students are farewelled by the rest of the school community.

We have a BBQ for the students and some fun activities.

Year 12 Graduation and Awards Night: Tuesday 15 October 2019.This will be held at the Moonee Valley Race Course: McPherson Street Moonee Ponds. Student need to be there by 5pm sharp to be fitted into their graduation gowns and to do a rehearsal. The ceremony starts at 7pm sharp.

The Year 12 Formal is on Thursday 21 November 2019 at the Luxor Reception Centre. The cost for the student is $80. This activity is organised by the school and there will be teacher supervision during the evening.

Students are still in the process of filling in their VCAT application forms, applying for courses, scholarships and special consideration when writing their SEAS applications. All Year 12 VCE and VCAL students will need to resister with VTAC (on-line) if they want to be considered for a university or TAFE course.

All Year 12 VCAL students are spending a session with our MIPs coordinator applying for courses through VTAC. They all have individual appointments to continue this process.

The end-of-year VCAA exam timetable for Year 12 exams are on the VCAA website through the following link:

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/exams/timetable.aspx

Enrichment programs for Year 12 students are continuing for English and Biology.

Some individual teachers are also running after school classes to best prepare their students for the exams.

ABCN FOCUS Young Women’s Leadership Program

Ten exemplary year 11 students: Hafsa AHMED, Chloe LE-DODD, Kera McGRATH, Jessica NGUYEN, Trisha NGUYEN, Zoe PAVLIDIS, Daniela PAVLOVIC, Shayla PHAM, Mursal REZAI and Izzy UYAN completed the FOCUS Young Women’s Leadership Program through the Australian Business Community Network (ABCN) this term. The students were grouped with early-career mentors from Energy Australia.

Over the course of the three sessions, the students studied, discussed and presented their ideas about leadership styles, the attributes of leaders, identifying priorities, and setting goals. They worked alongside students from Thomastown Secondary College and made some valuable connections with students and mentors.

Representatives from ABCN complimented our students on the noticeable increase in their confidence over the course of the program. They also noted their authenticity, and their eagerness to learn and implement what they had learned from their mentors.

One student reported learning to “always be confident about yourself,” to “take every step to reach your full potential,” and not to “downplay your capabilities”. As for what they would do differently, one student observed that leadership is all about “never giving up!”

St Alban’s Secondary College has participated in this program for several years and this year’s group represented the school admirably. All students reported that they better understood their leadership potential, as a result of the program.

The Year 11 VCAL students are still involved with the ‘CHASE’ program.

Students completed the Education Phase of their Chase program and will begin the next step with the action phase. A show case of projects will occur on Wednesday 30 October during the school day.

On Friday 6 September was ‘Youth Day’ at St Albans SC. The Year 12 VCAL classes once again did a superlative job in organising the day. There was a fantastic selection of activities and food, including an ice-cream van, a bouncing castle, dunking machine, face painting, hairspray and fake tattoos, a movie-hamper raffle, popcorn and fairy floss.

Congratulations to all the students and Ms Gough.

Our next Parent Teacher Interviews were on Wednesday 18 September. We encourage all parents to come along and discuss their child’s progress in VCE or VCAL fully with the class teachers on that afternoon. Coordinators will be visiting classrooms to confirm that appointments have been made. We look forwards to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress.

Again, we would like to thank parents who contact us when their child is absent for any reason. This is of great assistance to the Year Level Coordinators, as we call home regularly if there are any unexplained absences. The Case Management process continues to monitor closely the attendance, achievement and individual needs of all our students. Please contact us on 9366 2555 if you have any queries or concerns about your child.

Stav Bekiaris

Senior Sub School Leader

Year 11 and 12 VCAL

It’s been a very busy end of term for year 12 VCAL.

As well as completing all of their class work in Numeracy, Literacy and Work Related Skills, students have had to complete their Issues complex projects for Personal Development Skills. They have organised guest speakers and excursions and presented their issue to the class.

Our Youth Day event occurred on Friday 6 September with a fairy floss and popcorn machine, Ice cream van, face painting, live music from our VET bands and of course the Dunk tank that always draws a big crowd. The weather stayed fine right up till the end of the event then the skies opened up.

Year 11 and 12 VCAL students were involved in Real Talk on Wednesday 11 where the cohort were matched with mentors from industries of choice and were able to hear about their journeys to employment and ask questions of mentors about best pathways.

RUOK? day on Friday 13 September again had the school community brought together with music, sausage sizzle, cupcakes and jelly. Headspace and Brimbank Youth services, Western Bulldogs Chances program were all in attendance to bring the message of R U OK? Day and reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “Are you ok?” and support those struggling with life's ups and down.

Laura Gough

VCE/VCAL Coordinator