Senior School

It has been a great start to 2025 for our Senior School students as we welcome our Year 9 students to Senior School for the very first time. Over 950 students across Years 9 to 12 have settled well into the school year, demonstrating a positive, calm and productive start to their classes and, importantly, their learning. It was great to see the busy hive of activity throughout our recent Transition Day, which saw our Year 12 students buddy up with our new Year 7 students to take part and assist in a school-wide tour and scavenger hunt.  

We have been overwhelmed with positive feedback from our teachers who have indicated how well our Yr 9 -12 students have started the year. Senior School students should be commended on the way they have conducted themselves over the first two weeks of the school Term. From uniform, attendance and engagement, to completion of holiday homework from our VCE and VM students, we would like to say thank you for starting the year exactly how we wanted and hopefully we can continue to see this level of commitment across the rest of 2025.   

We have been extremely fortunate to have purchased a coffee van for our VM students to gain invaluable experience in running a business and we have over 45 students undertaking a certificate in Barista and Food Handling in the CBD next week.  They will then run the van for information evenings, school tours and other social events such as production. 

Our Senior School team have been busy behind the scenes creating opportunities throughout 2025 where all students across Yr 9–12 can flourish. The following themes for each year level have been created to enable this to occur:

Year 9 = Believe 

Year 10 = Discover 

Year 11 = Grit 

Year 12 = Achieve 

VCE/VM Student Handbook 

All students who are completing their VCE (including Early Start students) have been provided with a VCE/VM Student Handbook.  Each year, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) requires us to ensure all students undertaking VCE/VM have clarity and certainty around the main VCE/VM policies, rules and expectations. This comprehensive VCE/VM student handbook outlines the rules, expectations and policies that support the integrity of the VCE & VM certificates. It is expected all students read and are familiar with the contents within the VCE/VM student handbook.

VCE VM Student Agreement Form

All VCE/VM students are expected to return a student agreement form which acknowledges that they have read and understood the VCE/VM policies, rules and expectations outlined in the handbook. Year 12 students have been distributed this form already and need to return it to the Senior Centre by Friday 7 February. 

Year 11 students and Year 10 Early Start students will receive this form on Wednesday 12 February  and will need to return the form by Friday 21 February in the Senior Centre.   

Study Periods / Exempt Subjects 

Year 11 students are required to be present during all study periods and need to sign in at the Senior Centre.  Year 12 students are required to be present during study periods that occur in Periods 1/2/3/4 until Friday 7 February and until their student agreement form is returned. 

Once Year 12 students have done this, students are required to attend Period 1/2/3 study periods and may leave at lunchtime if they have a study period in Period 4. If Year 12 students are present during their study periods, they need to sign in in the Senior Centre.   If a Year 12 subject is cancelled due to teacher absence this class is exempt from attendance, but students are still required to be on site and sign in at the Pathways hub to account for their whereabouts in the event of an emergency.  

Learning Recovery  

The purpose of Learning Recovery is to provide students with an opportunity to catch up on required work/learning and to get additional support from teachers and members of the sub school team regarding their learning. Learning Recovery is for students who have not submitted ongoing and significant amounts of homework and/or classwork.   

In the first instance, teachers will implement strategies to support students with work completion and maintain high expectations around learning during and after classes. Teachers will provide appropriate interventions before any student is booked in for Learning Recovery.  

If students are still behind in classwork and/or homework after teacher interventions and is deemed significant and ongoing, then teachers will consider student for a Learning Recovery session.  

Learning Recovery Process  

1.Subject teachers can book a student into one of these sessions via the ‘VCE / VM Learning Recovery’ Chronicle Post.   

2.Students who receive a ‘Learning Recovery’ chronicle post are required to attend Learning Recovery, which runs every Thursday afterschool from 3:15pm – 4:00pm in the Senior Centre (F4). VM/VPC Learning Recovery will be run weekly on a Friday at lunchtime.  

3.An automated email letter is sent to the student and parents / guardian, providing them with an overview of the sessions, their purpose, and the date.  

4.Teachers are required to inform and explain why a student have been booked into Learning Recovery, as well as detail what they need to do during this session. Teachers are encouraged to provide support and feedback before and/or during these sessions to assist students in their work and learning.  

5.If students catch up on required classwork / homework before the weeks Learning Recovery, the teacher can comment and resolve the chronicle post, which will trigger the student to be removed from learning Recovery.  

6.Learning Recovery sessions will be supervised by a member of the Senior School team.  

7.Once a student attends their Learning Recovery session, this will be communicated via the resolved Chronicle post.  

8.If student fails to attend the required Learning Recovery Session, they will be re-booked to Learning Recovery the following week.  

9.If a student fails to attend two Learning Recovery sessions in a row will lead to a parent phone call, SSG and may include an internal suspension.  

James Doble

Assistant Principal 

Senior School