Welcome back to all of our students and their parents/carers. Particularly our 2023 year 7’s and other new students who have joined us across year levels.

It has been a busy and very productive first term. Our students have settled into their academic studies and participated in a wide range of activities and programs throughout the term that are highlighted within this newsletter. Our students have demonstrated outstanding participation in these activities and adhered to our school values of respect, resilience, responsibility and endeavour.

Sunbury College values and expectations

We have spent the term working with our students from years 7-12 on clear and consistent messaging about our college values of respect, resilience, responsibility and endeavour and expectations through:

• Year level assemblies

• Connect sessions

• Class visits

• Posts to families/carers and students on Compass

There are many ingredients to experiencing success at school and in further studies, pathways and future employment. As a school we are focusing on:

Being on time to class
Regular attendance at school
Being ready to learn with the correct equipment
Wearing the correct uniform
Following instructions
Adopting a growth mindset
Always being respectful

Please take an opportunity to discuss these expectations with your child to support our school community and your child with their education and future success.

Mobile Phones 📱

The Department of Education has a mobile phone policy that outlines the requirements for students to secure their phones during the school day. The policy informs the College’s processes relating to mobile phones.

Mobile Phones — Student Use: Policy | education.vic.gov.au

Why does a mobile phone policy exist?

Research has found that it doesn’t matter whether a person’s smartphone is turned on or off, or whether it is lying face up or face down on a desk – having a mobile phone within sight or within easy reach reduces a person’s ability to focus and perform tasks because part of their brain is actively working to not pick up or use the phone.
Research findings note that mobile phones can have a negative impact on learning through distraction and that their removal from the classroom sees improvement in student performance and outcomes.

We ask that parents and guardians take an active role in encouraging their children to make effective use of their class and break times to be active learners and positively connected at a social level. As per our school’s processes, students who require an early dismissal or need to go home via sick bay need to follow existing processes, and parents and guardians are asked to encourage students to follow these processes.

Sunbury College Mobile Phone Policy

In the event that a student is found to have a mobile phone, this process will be followed:

Privacy Policy

The Department of Education values your privacy and is committed to protecting the information that schools collect. All staff including contractors, service providers and volunteers of the department, and all Victorian government schools (schools), must comply with Victorian privacy law and this policy. To familiarise yourself with this policy please access the information via Schools Privacy Policy.

School Policies

The Department of Education requires all schools to highlight their school policies each year, if you want to know more information or access any of our policy information, please access this via Sunbury College Policy Page on our school website.

Uniform Policy 👔

Wearing full and correct uniform is important to our school community. Throughout the term, we have reminded all students about the expectations of wearing full school uniform and the clear consequences if they choose not to. Thank you for your ongoing support in following this school policy.

Windcheaters and coloured long-sleeve tops are not permitted to be worn at school.

The college jacket and jumper are available for purchase from the uniform shop. We remind families that plain white socks are to be worn (no markings) and black leather-laced school shoes are the only footwear permitted to be worn to school.

Sunbury College Student Dress Code

A reminder that the uniform shop is open every Tuesday from 3:30 pm until 5:30 pm. Alternatively, you can go to Academic Uniforms located in Thomastown.

Sub School Structure

The structure and key people across each of the Sub Schools has changed slightly for 2023. The placemat below shows the Year Level Coordinators or Leading Teachers working across each of the teams supporting the Learning and Wellbeing of all students.

We are very fortunate to have Team Assistants support each sub school in 2023.

If you have an inquiry or question related to your child a great place to start is with Jenny Metcalf the 7-10 Team Assistant or Sharee Ainsworth the Year 11-12 Team Assistant, their phone extension can be selected from the main phone line menu.

Road and Pedestrian safety

The streets around our school are very busy, particularly at drop off and pick up time.

We ask that parents please:

1. Consider dropping students a couple of streets away and allow them to walk the last couple of hundred metres to school.

2. Encourage their child/children to use the dedicated crossings and the underpass on Riddell Rd. Some students are taking a significant risk in navigating Riddell Rd.

3. Speak to their child/children about the dangers of navigating Riddell Rd instead of using the underpass and pedestrian crossing.

4. Do not use the front bus lanes or staff car park for drop off or pick up between 8 am and 9 am, or from 2.40 pm -3.40 pm, unless you need to access the disabled parking spaces.

5. Communicate with their child/children about being patient when waiting for access to the pedestrian crossing on Riddell Rd near the Riddell Rd and Horne St roundabout. Staff will continue to provide support in controlling the flow of students across this space.

Safety is our main priority. A vast majority of students are excellent in their approach to arriving and leaving the school each day. A small number of students are taking a risk in running quickly across Riddell Rd and risk being hit by a vehicle or causing an accident as cars accelerate away from the roundabout or approach the school. Each sub-school will reinforce the above messaging to students in assemblies over the coming weeks.

TLI (Tutor Learning Initiative) 2023

We are very fortunate to have a number of teacher tutors working in our TLI (Tutor Learning Initiative) in 2023. We know that the remote learning experience during 2021 and 2022 was different for every student. While some students thrived, some students may not have engaged as fully with remote learning. For most of our students, regular high-quality teaching in 2023 will be enough to help them progress to the expected level of learning. Some students will benefit from additional intensive learning support in 2023.

This term our teacher tutors (in English and Maths) have been working predominantly with year 9, some year 8 classes and year 7. We also have offered tutoring for year 11 students in Maths and English at Brunch time in the Hub and period 5 on a Wednesday when SACs are not scheduled. Approximately 5 students per class covered are offered small group tutoring within and outside of the classroom. These students can be at any level of attainment and are selected by their classroom teacher and tutor based on standardised assessment (NAPLAN, PAT), formative assessments, work habit ratings and teacher judgements. Teach tutors also assist with the Independent Reading program in the Hub for years 7-9.

There are obviously not enough teacher tutors to be spread across every English and Maths class and year level. So each term teacher tutors will be placed in different classes, so that other year levels and classes have the same opportunity.

By engaging additional teachers to support students with intensive learning, classroom teachers will have a greater capacity to ensure that all other students’ achievement, engagement and well-being needs are met, so that all students receive the support they need in 2023.

NAPLAN 2023 - Year 7 and 9

The online National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing. in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy were conducted from Wednesday 15 March until Monday 27 March. All students conducted themselves in a wonderful manner and gave the test 110%.

Next term you will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The report will also show how your child performed in relation to national minimum standards. These describe the minimum acceptable standards for students across Australia.

We are confident that the information you receive as a result of your child’s participation in the NAPLAN tests will be valuable in helping to assess your child’s progress in literacy and numeracy.

For more information about the tests, please visit the NAP website at www.nap.edu.au

2023 Sunbury College Production 🎸

Auditions and rehearsals have begun for our 2023 Sunbury College production of School House Rock. The production team are incredibly excited to be presenting this show to our school community in term 3. We cannot wait to showcase the amazing talents and skills of our students from years 7 to 12.

Instructional Model