Welcome to Term 2 and a new look newsletter. The fresh new format communicates important information about our school, as well as highlighting the events and opportunities our students are involved in. We hope you enjoy reading it.

Anzac Day

Our school was involved in two events for the commemoration of Anzac Day. The first was held on Friday 23rd of April in the gym with all students present listening to the School Captains speak about one aspect of WW1, ‘War Animals,’ and to our guest speaker, Chris May, a young Veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. The next event was at the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Emerald. I accompanied our School Captains, Luke, Emma, Jasmine and Chelsea, who presented their speech and received great feedback from the audience and from the RSL representative Matt Cocks. ‘Thank you for organising your School Leaders. Their speeches were fantastic and very relevant to our theme of War Animals. They all spoke exceptionally well and they should be proud of how they represented Emerald Secondary College.’ Thank you to Jonathon Rogers for organising the whole school assembly, to everyone at school who was duly respectful on this important occasion and to the Emerald RSL for the part it plays in gathering the community to honour the day.

Learning matters

It has been fantastic to visit classes and see lessons in action. I am delighted when I view the positive learning behaviours displayed by students and a consistent approach in teaching displayed by staff. From team teaching in Maths, creative writing in English and group work in Drama, students are collaborating and asking clarifying questions in order to understand material and produce constructive outcomes. Teachers, Teacher Aides and Tutors are working hard to support student engagement and learning. We thank Parents/Carers for their continued support of our efforts. Our sub-school teams are collaborating too, running information assemblies which outline the expectations of each year level and acknowledging successes in student endeavours. Outside the classroom, the Wellbeing Team is providing enticing activities at lunchtimes which draw in solid numbers of students. I stopped by the rehearsals of the production ‘We will Rock You’ on Monday afternoon and even at this early stage, I could feel the energy and excitement emanating from all involved. Participation in sporting groups, excursions and camps has been strong too. There is a positivity within the school grounds no doubt triggered by the sensory delight of autumn’s treasures such as the early morning mist, scrunchy leaves and a kaleidoscope of colours from the surrounding forest. Emerald Secondary College is a great place to be.

Student success

Two achievements come to mind which represent student effort, resilience and success. One is the outstanding achievement of Year 10 student, Kiara Flavel, the only Victorian athlete in the recent Australian Track & Field Championships. Kiara finished an impressive 4th place in the 1500m final and then competed in the Under 17, 800 metres as a 15 year old and won a gold medal. Her first place in the race comes despite the lockdown last year preventing her from continuing her training like the competitors from other states and only communicating with her coach via messages and the occasional phone call. Kiara improvised by running up and down the streets of Emerald to keep herself in top condition. She says that the hills around Emerald Lake helped her with her endurance. All of Emerald congratulates you Kiara for your superb outcome.

The other achievement is an essay I read handed to me by a Year 7 English teacher. One of his students produced a piece of writing that was unbelievably engaging, revealing insights beyond the student’s age. It had us thinking about ways to display more broadly student creativity in writing. The discussion on this topic continues.

Professional Learning Community

Schools in the Outer East and the Dandenong Ranges Network are undertaking PLCs to improve an aspect of teaching and learning. Led by Janine McMahon and the Domain Leaders, the PLC is exploring ways to improve the skill of writing and sentence structure.

Year 9 NAPLAN certificates of achievement

A new feature of the NAPLAN assessment is being launched this year, with the award of Year 9 Certificates of Achievement.

The new certificates aim to celebrate and recognise the importance of both excellence and learning growth.

Beginning in 2021, Year 9 students who achieve outstanding results or who significantly improve their results in NAPLAN tests will receive a NAPLAN Certificate of Achievement.

The certificates will be awarded for two categories of achievement:

Category one: the achievement of excellence through getting a result in the top band for reading or numeracy, or both.
Category two: the achievement of outstanding learning growth through improve by two or more bands between the NAPLAN Year 7 and Year 9 tests for reading or numeracy, or both.

For more information about the new certificate and measures for learning growth, refer to Year 9 NAPLAN certificates of achievement on the Department’s website.

Parents/Carers will receive notification of the Student Attitudes to School survey and Education Week activities via Compass posts in the coming weeks.

Covid-19 safe behaviours

This time one year ago we had begun living life in lockdown. A year on and the vaccination program offers some hope of living normally- albeit in a covid safe way. We have received fresh supplies of hand sanitiser from the Department of Education and have been given a generous supply from Dandenong South Primary School which we appreciate very much.

As a school we have updated our information from the Victorian government with appropriate signs and practices in place to keep everyone safe. It is a note reiterated by the Chief Health Officer whose message is in the link below.

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-04/Victorian%20Chief%20Health%20Officer%20message%20to%20Victorian%20schools%20and%20their%20communities.docx

Senior Secondary Pathways reform

Following from The Review into Vocational and Applied Pathways in Senior Secondary Schools by John Firth, a Final Report was published in November 2020. The Victorian Government commissioned the review in November 2019 to make recommendations for reform with two key aims:

to ensure all Victorian secondary school students have access to high-quality vocational and applied learning options
to improve transitions for students between school, post-secondary education and work.

Subsequently, schools are now being consulted about improvements to senior pathways, to ensure that every senior secondary student has access to high-quality vocational and applied learning through the inclusion of Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) into the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the creation of a new Foundation Pathways Certificate. This includes supporting students to help them make better career decisions and providing individualised pathways to enhance training and employment opportunities that align more closely with Victoria’s growth sectors and local industry needs. Updates around this important initiative will be provided to families via Compass.

Respectful Relationships

As mentioned in the last newsletter, our school is to become a Partner School in Respectful Relationships in 2022. Further clarity has been provided about this program which will see the college implement a Whole School Approach to Respectful Relationships into the curriculum as recommended by the Royal Commission into Family Violence. Our school is part of the final tranche of schools inducted into the program and this will mean professional learning opportunities for our staff including all staff briefing, responding to disclosures session, Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials, Curriculum and Assessment, Bystander Action. An Induction day in Term 1, 2022 will begin the program which will continue over a 12-18 month period.

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