From the Principal Class... 

The semester comes to an end... 

We have no doubt that many of you would be aware of what a busy time we have had so far this term. In addition to dealing with all of the student assessments, examinations, covid-safe measures, student absences and staff shortages, we continue to grow stronger when we work together - every student in every classroom.  Students and staff have been involved in lots of different activities and lots of incursions and excursions across the school. In all of these events, we have been so proud of our students for the leadership they have shown, their sense of community, and the way in which they have modelled the school values. They are a real credit to themselves, their families and their teachers.

Year 10 – 12 Semester 1 Examinations have just been completed and all Year10 and 11 students should have received feedback for their examination last week. Year 12 Semester 1 Examinations were completed too last week with feedback expected to be provided to students from their teachers at the end of the semester or beginning of the next term. The GAT exam was also run last Thursday with all Year12 students completing the exam as well students in Year 11 completing an accelerating study (almost 300 students). 

Year 12 English Orals also occurred Monday June 19th 2023. The English Orals is a major assessment task within the VCE English Study Design. Year 11 VCE VM students also completed their two-week Structured Workplace Learning block last week. From all accounts, we are hearing once again some good news stories from this learning. We also ran some very successful Years 10 - 11 Student Cohort Days on Friday June 16th 2023 that were very well attended. A big thank you to the Middle and Senior Sub-school teams for their leadership here.

Semester 2 commenced for all students in Week 9, Term 2 (this week!) as part of the Assessment and Reporting schedule. A new timetable commenced on this day. Unit 2 and 4 studies also commenced. The last round of the student progress reports has been completed as well in as the teacher judgements in line with the Victorian Curriculum Standards. Student’s summative assessment grades and teacher judgements will then be collated and pushed through to an end of semester report format. Student feedback on the actual summative task is provided through the learning Tasks module in Compass. 

Staffing continues to have its challenges across the entire education system, including our college. We have advertised once again the unfilled vacancies and hope to fill these ready for the new semester.

We are also expecting to have a number of staff return from leave in Semester 2, including Diane Apap, Marie DiQuattro and Kathy Gioskos. Katelyn McInerney has decided to leave the school and the department at the end of the term and we wish her the very best for her future endeavours.

End of Semester Reports

End of semester reports will be available to download from Compass for students and parents from Friday, June 23rd 2023 at 2:30pm. 

• Reports will include a list of major assessment tasks for each subject, a description of the task and overall level awarded.
• They will include a percentage of attendance for each subject, a graph of student work habits in each class, and a teacher judgement rating for the student against the Victorian Curriculum state-wide five point scale for students in Years 7-10.
• There will be no descriptive comments included as these have been previously recorded on learning tasks saved to Compass as each task was completed throughout the semester.

It is important to remember that student reports provide students, teachers and parents with a clear and concise picture of a student’s achievement and progress at a point in time. Teachers make informed and consistent decisions about student progress against the achievement standards using a variety of assessments and observations to inform their judgement. They map the student’s learning against the achievement standards, and place the student on the learning continuum, that best reflect the student’s level of performance and progress.

The Victorian Curriculum is structured as a single developmental learning continuum and is organised by levels not years of schooling. The curriculum consists of Towards Foundation Levels A to D and Levels Foundation to 10. All curriculum areas have achievement standards, describing what students are able to understand and do.

All students progress along the learning continuum at their own rate and from their own starting point. Teachers provide learning opportunities to support the learning for all students, including those students with additional learning needs or a disability. 

I encourage all parents and guardians to read through the reports, and discuss with your children how they have gone, and what they can do in Term 3 to improve. Regardless of how good the report is, there are always things which can be improved.

Careers and Curriculum Planning

The college will begin the course counselling process for students in Years 9 – 11 students in Term 3 like we undertook in 2022. The revised model, using a pathways approach, will continue to be used in 2023. As part of the model, interviews will continue to be held for 20 minutes and some interviews for a year level to be included outside of normal school hours. Information evenings will occur for parents and students in Weeks 2 Term 3 as well as pre-planning workshops with students in Weeks 1 and 2 Term 3. Interviews will be held in Weeks 3 and 4 of Term 3.

The Headstart Initiative will continue in 2024. We have agreed for 2024, VCE:VM students will be offered to move into the Headstart Initiative but it will entail students commencing VCE: VM firstly at the beginning of 2024. VCE students will continue to not be recommended to move into the Headstart Program at this stage until the program is further implemented in line with the new VCE model. We will have a number of students transitioning into Headstart this year. We are also going to trial a number of students in Year 10 commencing Headstart in 2024.

Student Success

Jake Buhagiar of Year 12 continues to take on the world within the various Taekwondo championships. This term Jake travelled to Azerbaijan for the Senior World Championships. 

With only his second time fighting seniors ever in a tournament, Jake was a small fish in a really big pond. Jake was put to the test with a 23-year-old man from the Netherlands who was already an experienced fighter as he is already placed 16th in the world. However, Jake surely went out with the right mind set and challenged this contender and took him to 3 rounds winning the first round and then being defeated in the last two rounds by a minimal margin in both rounds. 

This really gave Jake the opportunity to really feel what the competition will be like this year and now he can reset and prepare himself for his next competition in July for the Presidents Cup and Australian Open. He will now get to fight in his Olympic division -58kg oppose to his normal division of -54kg , he will get to fight some more internationals as they attend this competition in Brisbane.

A big congratulations to Jake Buhagiar for all of his achievements this year and we wish him the very best for the upcoming tournaments.

And finally...

As the cold weather has begun, please make sure that your child has the warm winter uniform – jumper, jacket, long pants, winter skirt, and long sleeve tops. Please note that tracksuit pants, hoodies and other non uniform tops  must not be worn at school, or on the way to or from school.  We are also working with the uniform supplier to provide more variety in school pants for both boys and girls  from the beginning of next term, and to avoid parents/carers needing to seek appropriate pants at other stores. From Week 1 Term 3, the on-campus uniform store will recommence to trade every Wednesday afternoons from 3:15pm - 5:00pm in L4. Entry is via the side gate in the main car park. We greatly appreciate your support in ensuring that your child is in full uniform. If you need assistance with this, please contact your child’s Year Level Leader.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our Exford Primary School fundraiser over the last couple of weeks. $1550 was collected which is an fantastic achievement. This donation will be provided to the Lisa Campo, Principal of Exford Primary School at the end of the term. 

Danny Dedes

On behalf of the Principal Class

Rick Hudson, Sasha Mildenhall and Louisa Norwood