From the Principal
Hello everyone, I hope the week has been kind to you.
Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. The survey is optional but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.
All families will be invited to participate in the survey.
The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.
The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.
Please contact the General Office if you would like more information.
NAPLAN certificates arrived in the college last week and have been sent by mail to all families.
Course counselling continues and work has begun for the 2024 school year.
Have a lovely week and thankyou for your support.
Linda Stanton
Principal
Important Dates
JULY
28/07/23 | Year 10 into Year 11 2024 Course Counselling
AUGUST
11/08 - 14/08/23 | Aerobics Final in Adelaide
28/08/23 | Parent Teacher Interviews 12pm - 7.00pm - REVISED DATE
SEPTEMBER
7/09/23 | Year 7 2024 Parent Information Evening
11/09 - 14/09/23 | Year 11 Outdoor Education Gariwerd Camp
15/09/23 | Last day of Term 3 (2.30pm Finish)
OCTOBER
02/10/23 | First Day of Term 4
Don't forget to look on Compass for sport sign ups, excursions and any other information sent to students and parents.
Below is a link to help guide you in your use of Compass.
https://mornsc.vic.edu.au/for-parents/compass-parent-guide/
Middle School
Dear Parents and Guardian,
In previous newsletters, I have mentioned that I have visited many classes and observed student learning. This has taken place as part of our Learning Walks and is a priority for the Principal and Leadership team.
You may have noticed from our lesson plans on Compass at Mornington Secondary College we use the STAR instructional model for each class. Our instructional model provides a template for the class instruction. Each class commences with a starter, then some explicit teaching, followed by student work and towards the end of the lesson, we recap the learning that has taken place.
The Instructional model provides a consistent structure for classroom teaching as well as a shared understanding of how to reach the learning goals and a shared vocabulary for discussing learning progress.
This semester our teachers are engaging in Peer Observation which is a great way for teachers to discuss, challenge and support each other by providing feedback on teaching practice. From my observations across the college in all different subjects, I often learn some new content knowledge or a new teaching strategy. Our desire for continuous improvement in teaching and learning is a college priority so that every child has the opportunity to achieve their best.
Wishing you a great week.
Denise Leggett
Middle School Assistant Principal
Senior School
To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,
It’s been a big week in the Senior School as so many of 2024 Senior School students have completed or are about to complete their course counselling interviews. This is a fantastic time of the year, where we get to have rich conversations with students and families about future direction, reaffirm our purpose for being in education each day and build positive direction for the rest of 2023 and beyond.
I’d like to thank the staff who have run VCE Vocational Major interviews this week, namely our Applied Learning Leader - Rebecca Slater, Year 10 Leader - Jake Uhlenberg, Year 11 Leader – Jasmine Keough and Year 11 Coordinator – Amber Taylor. The outcomes of the interviews and recommended next steps will be made in the next week.
Our Year 10 families have been provided with information about work experience opportunities through the Compass Newsfeed, "My News". Work experience is a wonderful opportunity for students to experiment with working in a field or job they may potentially be interested in doing in future. Irrespective of whether the experience ends up being something students love or if it’s something that they learn isn’t great, this knowledge is valuable in planning future direction. Sometimes knowing what type of work or career you definitely don’t want is as valuable as knowing what you do. There is required paperwork to ensure that students are insured and safe while working and all of these forms can be found on the Compass post. Happy work experience seeking!
Some of our Senior School student leaders had a fantastic opportunity earlier this week, to attend a student leadership network meeting at the Mornington Shire, where they met and worked with former Mornington Mayor and current Councillor for the Mornington Peninsula Shire (Briars Ward), Despi O’Connor. While student senior leaders were initially invited, I took the opportunity to take Year 10 and 11 Captains as well to assist our potential future leaders in this sharing their knowledge, skills and thoughts, so we had the largest contingent of leaders represented. The student leaders from multiple schools shared their thoughts on issues faced in government schools and ideas on how to address them. The next gathering is planned for Term 4 and the initiative will continue to grow. Our student leaders represented themselves and Mornington Secondary College with distinction, passion, and thoughtfulness. Well done to Hamish O’Shea (12), Harry Ramsden (12), Bridie Borthwick (11), Ethan Lewis (11), Ethan Barker (10) and Carter Nicholson (10).
The Senior School Year Level Leaders have compiled highlights from this:
Year 10
Mr Jake Uhlenberg
This week has been and will continue to be a busy one for our Year 10 students. Tuesday saw us conducting a majority of the VCE-Vocational Major interviews for placement in the 2024 program at Mornington Secondary College. Thank you to all the students for their positive and professional conduct and to the parents/guardians who came along to support them.
During Wednesday's Connect we were honoured to present 31 STAR awards, 20 STRIVE badges as well as well over 100 Endeavour certificates to the students in the Year 10 cohort. We hope that our students are as proud of themselves as we are as their commitment to their learning is obvious and noteworthy.
On Friday we will be conducting our Course Counselling meetings for our students moving into Year 11, we hope to see students and their parents/guardians in attendance to finalise their choices at this time and ensure we have a designated pathway to work towards.
Year 11
Dr Jasmine Keough
Year 11 (Dr Jasmine Keough) – Year 11 students have settled into school and focussing on their learning. Behaviour has been excellent with students responding respectfully. The focus for this term is academic performance with supporting students to aim for Satisfactory in all their SACs. They are also challenged to achieve the best scores they can. The transition from Year 11 to Year 12 can be challenging and it is important for Year 11 students to be prepared rather than be overwhelmed. Students who want to change subjects for Year 12 next year will be meeting the Year 12 and Year 11 Leaders and the Assistant Principal next week to review their application.
Our Year 11 Formal will take place on the 1st of September with a the theme of Hollywood and preparations are underway to make this a glamourous and memorable evening. Students are encouraged to help the formal committee to ensure this formal will be one to remember!
Year 12
Mr Scott Kirkby
Year 12 Exam Revision Lectures
The Year 12 management team would like to run revision lectures for students during week 10. These will take place in conjunction with trial exams that will also run during this week. No classes will be running in week 10 of Term 3 (week commencing September 11).
We have quizzed students to gather interest and checked availability with Connect Education to establish a program for week 10.
The sessions will be run both during the day and after school to fit the schedule. Some will finish at 5:30pm.
As this is a new initiative and given the additional cost, I wanted to get insights into who would be comfortable with the costs before paying the deposit for the program.
Each 2-hour seminar session will cost roughly $40 and include a note taking booklet for students to scaffold the program as well as a textbook of revision materials to assist them prepare for their exams. A minimum of 15 students are required per seminar for the session to run. Students may sign up to as many relevant lectures as they wish. The full list of subjects available is within the forms quiz.
If one person per household (or two if you have twins) could indicate their support of the program and costs by filling in this form, it will help us gather an idea of whether to go ahead of not. The quiz will take less than a minute to fill in if you know which subjects your child studies.
Thank you for taking the time to complete the quiz. Your feedback is very helpful.
Nick Evans
Senior School Assistant Principal
Teachers lead the way
I thought it might be interesting for you to know a little bit about the work that our teachers do behind the scenes.
All staff are members of Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) which meet regularly to explore how to best teach our students. The PLC’s consist of 2-4 teachers who teach the same subject.
As a group the teachers work through a four stage process. Starting by looking at the students assessment data and the curriculum they are going to teach. They look for opportunities to make adjustments to better meet the needs of the students. They then plan out new activities or ways of teaching and implement them in class to meet those needs.
Throughout the process the teams monitor how the new strategies are working and make additional adjustments. Finally they look at the growth that students have made throughout the topic and then prepare for the next PLC cycle.
As you can see there is a lot of thought and planning which goes into the teaching process and our teachers work hard to get the best out of our students.
Kind regards,
Mike Parker
Assistant Principal
College Production - "Be More Chill"
Our talented students have been performing the College Production - "Be More Chill" this week and we are so very proud of each and every person who has been involved in making and presenting this outstanding piece of work.
Well done to everyone and with some tickets still available for tonight's final performance, you may want to make a night of it tonight.
Tickets can be booked at trybooking.com/CIDGR
Victorian High Ability English Program - Term 3
Students are studying Utopia and Dystopia through the novel Hive by A.J. Betts. We are enjoying listening to their ideas and watching them craft their writing responses. Well done everyone.
Students are also exploring the following questions:
|
An example of the tasks:
Rebecca Stroud
Student Excellence Program
Senior Netball
On Monday 24th of July the Senior Netball B team made their way to Gloria Pyke Netball Complex to represent the school in the SMR netball competition. The girls did an amazing job, making it to the finals and beating Parkdale by a nail biting 2 points to take home the flag.
Congratulations to all the girls for their amazing teamwork and effort!
Compass Tips
School Bus Program 2024
Students wishing to access a seat on a Department of Education school provided bus must complete an application form every year and parents/ guardians must agree to the conditions of travelling (attached) and if applicable, the payment of a fare ($125) per term prior to travel. Any application submitted after 1st October 2023 will be considered a late application and will be processed after all other applications. To submit an online application for 2024 – please follow the link below:
2024 Bus Application online form Note – you will need to complete one application form per student. Written communication will be sent to each family (via email) by the College during Term 4 to notify the outcome of your application. There is an option to select previous bus allocation – please note this does not guarantee an allocation to this bus. If you are unsure of the bus number, please select UNKNOWN. Any queries to be directed to: schoolbuses@mornsc.vic.edu.au
Please be advised that by submitting an application or having a seat in previous years does not guarantee your son or daughter a seat on a school bus for the following year. Parents/guardians are responsible for getting your children to and from school. To be eligible for a seat on a Department of Education school provided bus at no cost, a student must:
- Attend their nearest Government school and reside 4.8km or more from the school.
If your son/daughter does not fit into the above criteria they may be able to access the Department of Education school bus service after all eligible students are allocated a seat and upon payment of $125 per term. Public transport should be accessed if you live within 1.6km of the College or closer than the nearest school bus service. Department of Education school bus service is not guaranteed, and your son/daughter may be placed on a wait list, in order of eligibility, date of application, and ensuring all Department of Education processes and protocols have been addressed.
Please see below Conditions of Travel set by The Victorian Department of Education and Training.
Peninsula Health Community Dental
Smile Squad Information:
Smile Squad is a Victorian Government program that provides free dental care to all Victorian government primary and secondary school students.
You can access free dental for students by calling your local community dental clinic through Peninsula Health on 9784 8184 and asking for a Smile Squad appointment.
Visit the Smile Squad website at: www.smilesquad.vic.gov.au to learn more.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram
