College News

Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

 

School Production 

Congratulations to all students (cast and crew) who were involved in this year’s school production “Footloose: The Musical”. I am sure everyone in our school community would agree with me that it was a fantastic show of the highest quality and so professional in every sense of the word,  showcasing our wonderful talent pool at the College. The production this year was again held over four nights and in 2020 we will be most likely adding in a fifth show to assist in meeting the demand for tickets. Special thanks must go to three former students from our graduating class of 2017 - Imogen Kane, Natalie Wood and Hannah Blavo - who returned to the College to direct and choreograph the show in partnership with our wonderful teachers: Mara Sears – Production Coordinator and Producer, Demis Danoudis – Music Coordinator, Adelle Stevenson – Assistant Producer, Ariana Nickou – Cameron Young, Kelly Ferguson – vocal training, Claire Bruce – make-up, Stuart Mcintyre set construction and design, Emily Court and Leah Bright for set painting. Highlighting the sense of community that prevails at the College, former students Rhian Wheel and Gemma Benci returned as part of the “pit singers”.

Parent – Teacher Interviews

I hope parents/guardians found the parent teacher interviews on Wednesday to be worthwhile. In response to feedback received about the interviews held in the first week of Term 2, we moved the location of many staff to the EZ rather than the two storey building to avoid parents having to go up and down stairs throughout the night. I hope it was also an opportunity for students to showcase their learning to their parents and teacher/s; along with discussions around areas to improve to achieve their personal best.  If you were not able to attend the interviews, please don’t hesitate to contact any teacher you wish to speak to, to organise a time to speak on the phone or meet in person after school at a mutually convenient time.

 

Kingston Network Writers Festival

The Kingston Network of schools held our inaugural Writers Festival last Thursday for Foundation to Year 10 students and it was fantastic to see so many schools involved. We were able to use the vacant top floor at Beaumaris SC to run the event. Thanks to Vicky Vrettos for attending with our students on this day. Congratulations to Jackson Mould, Anna Hampson, Reema Ababneh, Aaliyah Zaph and Charlotte Zaph for all submitting a piece of writing to be displayed on the day and to then engage in the activities with the other students. They all found it to be a worthwhile and engaging event. Please see their report later in the newsletter.

 

Instrumental Music Showcase

Next week we look forward to three nights celebrating our Instrumental Music Showcase to be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights 7pm-8.30pm in the Performing Arts Centre each night. I am sure it will be three wonderful nights of celebration for our instrumental and vocal students along with their family members.  Credit to our dynamic music team - Demis Danoudis Coordinator (and teacher of guitar, piano and voice), Nigel Maas (woodwind), Ashley Ballat (brass), Jason Liacos (guitar), Adrian De Luca (drums), Kelly Ferguson (voice) and Malcolm Abbott (drums) and I thank them for their ongoing support of our students.

 

Awards Night Thursday 12 December 2019

This is one of the key events on the College calendar! Every year we come together as a College community to celebrate student successes in a variety of areas such as Academic Excellence, the Arts, Technology, Sport and Community Involvement.  There are many prizes awarded on the night, thanks to the generous sponsorship of many organisations in the school community. Students are nominated for these awards by their teachers, home group teachers and year level coordinators and these nominations are based on specific criteria for each award. I encourage all students to strive to achieve your best for the many awards celebrated at this important occasion.

These include:

 

  • Academic Excellence: The ‘Academic Excellence’ award is bestowed upon students who have demonstrated outstanding academic results within a subject. They have consistently worked above the expected level and/or have achieved a B or an A (in relation to Victorian Curriculum Achievement levels) on their reports where possible. At a VCE level students need to be consistently attaining high or very high on all assessments. Students also need to have demonstrated very good to excellent learning habits in that learning area.

 

  • Achievement- Endeavour: The ‘Achievement-Endeavour’ award is awarded to students in recognition of consistent efforts made to strive for their personal best.  They have demonstrated academic progress within a subject and have made significant improvements to reach their learning goals.

 

  • Community Service: The ‘Community Service’ award is for students from across each year level who have served the College in a particular way; for example participation in a variety of school activities as determined on an annual basis such as SRC, House Athletics, House Swimming, School Production, subject competitions, contribution to the College Magazine, participation in Open Night, primary school visits,etc.

 

  • Sport Champion:  Awarded to one female and one male student from Year 7, Year 8, Intermediate level and Senior level in recognition of outstanding sporting achievements throughout the year.

 

  • Special Awards: These awards are contributed by particular organisations to recognise achievements of students in particular categories. For example City of Kingston, Rotary, Victoria Police, Australian Defence Force etc.

 

  • Year 12 Subject Awards: The ‘Subject Award’ is bestowed upon the student who has consistently attained the highest academic results in all assessment tasks within the subject (for each Year 12 subject).

 

  • Year 12 VCAL Awards: The ‘Year 12 VCAL Award’ is awarded to students who have demonstrated significant achievements and progress within the VCAL program.  A total of four awards will be given to four students in the subject areas of Numeracy, Literacy, Personal Development and Work Related Skills.

 

  • Year 11 VCAL Award: The ‘Year 11 VCAL Award’ is awarded to a student who has demonstrated significant achievement and progress within the Year 11 VCAL program. 

 

  • Art Award: Awarded to students across all year levels in recognition of outstanding art achievements and progress made throughout the year.

 

  • Quality Learner Award: Awarded to a Year 7 and a Year 8 student who has shown high quality commitment to individual learning excellence achieved through teamwork, a process of continual improvem