Welcome back to Term Two.

Our College commemorated Anzac Day with our School Captains attending the Watsonia RSL service. A big thank you to Chloe Grioli, Sarah Cairns, Jack Commandeur and Ebony Stuart for attending and representing the college by laying a wreath.

This term we continue to visit our local Primary schools to showcase all that our college has to offer. Our Year 7 students accompany us on these visits (they are selected to represent at the school they previously attended) and engage with the Primary school students in answering all of their questions! We have a few more visits this term and they have all been well organised by Mr Cornelissen and attended by several different staff and students. This has been a really positive experience and it is a great opportunity to get to know all the schools and students in our community. Here we are on the Street Primary School visit.

Attendance, Classwork and Assessment

Lesson plans are available on COMPASS and Microsoft Teams. We encourage both students in attendance and those who are absent to check COMPASS for lesson plans. Keeping up a full-time attendance is important to ensure continuity in learning and opportunities to gain teacher assistance.

The VCE and VCAL courses are demanding and rigorous. A lot of material is covered each day and catching up after absence can be challenging. If your child at VCE or VCAL level is absent for a period of time- more than two consecutive days- it is advisable to contact your child's coordinator to provide a reason for the absence and to discuss supports that can be put in place to assist the student in catching up after the time away. At VCE, students must present a medical certificate if they miss a SAC task due to absence and sit the SAC task at another scheduled time.

Please continue to check Compass Learning Tasks, which will contain feedback on Assessment Tasks. Core Subjects will provide feedback on Compass a minimum of 3 assessments per semester and other subjects will provide feedback on 2 to 3 assessments per semester. Our Semester Reports will contain a summary of progression but the detailed results and feedback is available on Compass, which allows you to monitor how your child is progressing through the semester rather than at the end and it also allows teachers to upload an assessment rubric where applicable.

Year 10 and 11 students will sit Semester Exams in the last few weeks of this term, with Year 10 commencing in Week 7 so they can get feedback before heading off onto Work Experience, and Year 11 in Week 8 to coincide with the end of Unit 1 coursework. More information about exam preparation and timelines will be published on Compass.

As the weather turns colder, it is important for students to ensure that they stay warm but also to wear the correct uniform. Students like to wear items such as hoodies, but they are not part of the school uniform, and if caught wearing them, the hoodies will be confiscated and a detention will be issued. Students wanting to wear the school scarf will need to purchase this at the uniform shop. Also, a reminder that students should be wearing the correct uniform, either full academic or full PE uniform on the correct days.

Year 9 Health Day

The Year 9 had an all-day inclusion that focused on their wellbeing. The Year 9 boys worked with an organisation called Man Cave where they worked together to discover their strengths, how to care for themselves and each other and to be challenged to grow into healthy young men. The boys really enjoyed and appreciated the day.

To complement the Man Cave program, the wellbeing team ran the Women’s Wisdom Workshop that focused on friendships, leadership, finding and using our strengths. The second session focused on sexuality and reproductive health information, including conception, contraception, and respectful relationships. Unfortunately, the last session on yoga was cancelled at short notice and so the girls ended with a film session for the students, watching an old Disney favourite that explores masculine and feminine stereotypes, Mulan.

A fun day made more enjoyable by well-behaved and respectful students!

Take care,

Rose Thomson and Angus McLean

headspace