Leading Teachers Report 

Junior School Report

To the South Oakleigh College community, 

Remarkable to think that we are at the end of another year. A year full of amazing student achievement and personal growth. Semester 2 reports are now available for all students and I would encourage you to sit with your child and read through their report.

Our Year 7 students have now completed their first year of secondary schooling and for this, they all must be congratulated. I am confident that they will continue to develop further next year and be positive role models for our new Year 7s. Our Year 8 students will next year be moving into the Middle School and I would like to thank them for the two years they have spent as part of the Junior School. The growth and improvement seen in all students has been a testament to their hard work.

It was great to see so many of our Junior School students recognised in our recent Awards Ceremony in the academic, music, art and sports categories. Congratulations to all of our award recipients who were acknowledged for their outstanding achievements. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank the Junior School team of Ms Hoernel, Mr Fernandes and Ms Boxell for all their hard work and amazing efforts throughout the year. A great team effort! I would also like to wish all members of our College community a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2024. Enjoy this time with your family and friends and I look forward to seeing everyone’s smiling faces in Term 1. 

George Tzimourtas 

Director of Students: Junior School

Senior School Report

Year 12 Results 

Last week our Year 12 students of 2023 received their final VCE results. The Senior School Team would like to congratulate all students on their results. Our Year 12 students have shown incredible determination and resilience over the course of the year. We wish all students the best of luck in their future endeavours. 

Preparing for VCE in 2024 

Importance of Home Study 

As per the VCAA requirements, it is expected students undertake up to 50 hours of self-directed learning for each unit. To achieve 50 hours of self-directed learning at home for each unit, students across VCE should be undertaking at least 15 hours of study per week (2-3 hrs a day). This is a minimum requirement.  

Parents/guardians have a crucial role in helping their children manage learning and homework. This does not necessarily mean helping their child do the homework, instead support students to set routines, utilise study planners and provide encouragement for homework completion. Parents can also support their children by encouraging them to set goals, plan, and manage their time, effort and emotions. This type of support can help children regulate their own learning and will often be more valuable than direct help with homework tasks. 

Year 12 Study Retreat. 

27th – 29th Nov 2023, Year 12 2024 students attended a study retreat. This included study sessions as well as fun-filled activities. Below is a report from one of our college captains.  We wish the community a Merry Christmas and a relaxing break. 

Exert from Year 12 Student: 

On Monday the 27th of November through to Wednesday 29th of November, the class of 2024 banded together at our retreat, held at University College in Parkville. It was a jam-packed three days filled with activities that aimed to contribute to a successful VCE journey. 

Each day we made our way to and from the venue. Despite some of the rainy weather, this didn’t stop us from creating what would be a successful three days. To start things off, we had an insightful presentation from Ms Koziaris which revealed to us some lessons on life and the best ways to embark on the final year of our VCE journey with high expectations and a great level of teamwork. As we progressed through the day, our VCE students had a session with two of our guest speakers, Megan Ross (A Psychology Honours Student and Teacher) and Dina Khoweiss (VCE Teacher) from True Coaching and our VCE VM students went through an effective conflict resolution session. True Coaching delivers quality coaching and mentoring for students which promotes independent learning, accountability and continuous improvement in all aspects of life.

Each activity was broken down into bits, exploring how to get the most out of studying for SACS and exams. We looked at the different types of study, passive and active. We were introduced to and encouraged to utilise study techniques that are useful to us and can keep our knowledge in each subject solid. This involved creating S.M.A.R.T. goals which aim to make goals and paths clearer. We also looked at school/life balance to ensure that we were fitting everything in without stress. A huge thank you to Megan Ross and Dina Khoweiss for delivering this successful session. 

A key highlight from the Monday session was guessing the staff baby photos which hyped everyone up! This was a wrap for day 1, now for day 2! We dived into our first session, with VCE Students hearing from a passionate, widely known VCE English teacher, VCE assessor and author, Ross Huggard. During this time, our VCE VM students completed an integrated study session. Mr Huggard took us through some valuable insight into the do’s and don’ts of completing unit 3&4 English SACS and sitting the final English exam. We were taken through the study design for next year, the expectations of each SAC and briefly went through our novel, “My Brilliant Career” from Miles Franklin and sample analysis pieces from past examinations. This really assisted our cohort to ‘hit the ground running’ on day 1 of term 1 next year. 

A huge thank you to Mr Huggard for coming in and providing us with his best advice for our final year. The rest of the day was filled with teamwork activities that would create memories for us all. Ms Ferguson our year 12 leader and Ms Monga our director of students ran an activity called “Build the highest tower”. The aim was out of newspaper to build the tallest but most stable tower all the way to the roof under time pressure which added the heat! After some time, we did have a couple of towers fall down but one being the most stable taking out the win. As we have been given some tasks to complete during the holidays, there was a focus on allocating enough time for leisure and completing activities in time for day 1 of term 1 next year. As college captains, we hosting a Trivia run on Blooket. 

It consisted of three sections, SOC/Class of 2024, Pop Culture and Global Knowledge. Everyone was hyped up and really enjoyed hacking each other for crypto (Hacking mode on Blooket). To end the day, our staff hosting a challenge called “The Sally Up Challenge”. It was so intense reaching the end, with our legs becoming almost cramped and shaking! This was a wrap for day 2, now onto day 3! We dived into our final day of the retreat with an all-about ATAR talk delivered by Ms Monga and Ms Ferguson. To follow on with this, organised by our principal team, we had 3 SOC alumni students take some time out of their day to share with us their journeys since graduating from South Oakleigh. 

A huge thank you to them for sharing their journeys and words of wisdom for our cohort. Our second session was dedicated to our English coursework, delivered by Ms Matheson. She ran through “My Brilliant Career” a Roman-a-clef by Miles Franklin. A huge thank you to Ms Matheson for delivering this session and providing us with the best preparation for VCE English 3&4. During this time, our VCE-VM students went through a project planning session, preparing them for next year. Ms Smith our wellbeing director took us through a wellbeing session. She reiterated on the importance of having a clear mind whilst undertaking our final year of studies for secondary schooling. She ran through activities with our year level and referred us to some useful resources to assist us. 

A huge thank you to Ms Smith for delivering this session. Our year level has a motto for next year, this being “Together We Can”. We also needed to pick a theme song that goes with our year-level values. As our cohort enjoyed guessing staff baby photos, we decided to do a student-run version. We guessed some students' baby photos and for others, we got a bit stuck (No one guessed Greg’s). The perfect ending to our three-day retreat. Some highlights over the three days were the facilities, the common room with a pool

Greg Acciarito 

2024 College Captain

Sulagna Monga

Director of Students: Senior School