Message from our
Campus Principal

As we reflect on Term 1, I am very proud to be able to celebrate a myriad successes.

Naplan

No matter how much we try and talk down the stress of NAPLAN for students and encourage them just to do their best, we know that the gravitas of the tests and the repeated nature of them creates an element of stress. We won’t see the results of this year’s tests for a while yet, but the level of effort and engagement appeared high and student attendance for the tests was excellent. The last of our testing occurred on Monday.

Sports

It has been fantastic to see our first sporting teams go out to interschool sports and we have introduced new protocols for the selections of students meaning that we are now much more competitive with other schools. Our Year 7 Girls team moves on to the Gippsland Championships after winning both of their games at the local interschool level. At the time of writing, we are looking forward to our boys cricket teams heading out to represent the school. Our Athletics Day this term was also a success and the vibe was the most positive we’ve experienced in a long time.

Behaviours

The analysis of our behaviour and learning behaviour data tell us that we are doing the best that we have in many years, with strong and positive learning behaviours and significantly decreased negative and distracting behaviours across the campus. We are suspending less and recognising positives at a greater rate than ever before. Our Year 7s are settling in well and are ready to return to Term 2 with very clear understanding of what secondary school is all about.

Parent Teacher Conversations

These are forthcoming on the last two days of term and are a great opportunity to see how your child is faring against these positives. A new round of Learning Behaviour Updates will be released just beforehand. You will be given access to book in for the Parent Teacher Conversations soon, so if you aren’t sure of how to access Compass, now is the time to contact our office staff for support. We’d love to see and speak to every parent and we encourage you to bring along your child to be part of the conversation and own the responsibility for their learning.

Student Leaders

I have been so impressed with the way our student leaders have started out this year. Their enthusiasm is inspiring and they are already looking forward to a number of events after having had lunch with the College Principal already as well as their badge presentations. ANZAC Day will see our student leaders represent the school at the service in Morwell and then the Year 9 and 10 student leaders have a multi-day conference to attend called the Global Youth Forum. This will involve two days of online conference followed by a day face-to-face later in the year.

I asked the student leaders to take the time to introduce themselves for this newsletter. Here is what they said:

YEAR 7

Amelia Sims: I wanted to be a student leader because I love Kurnai and would love to make it even better (not that its not already amazing!) for people transferring from primary schools who are they only ones coming from their school. The element of leadership I expect to be most challenging this year is public speaking. Sometimes when I say things out loud, I feel nervous, other times I'm excited and say it in my bubbly voice. For example, when I did my School Captain speech last year, I was extremely nervous and accidentally rushed the speech, which is probably one of the reasons why I didn't get it. I am willing to improve that and will happily give public speaking a crack. Some elements of leadership I enjoy are random people saying hi, or the meetings where we discuss issues and why we need to change or improve them.

Madison Cormack: I wanted to be student leader because I would like to change the school by providing more food and adding more drink taps. I pretty much find everything easy but when some people agree and disagree then it will be a bit hard. I’m enjoying it so far though because I'm proud of everyone who got it and everyone one who tried. I also like changing the school (and the free food).

Mikyla Malone: When I was younger, I found the joy of helping people. It first started as simple as holding the door open for people and that soon became lending items and toys for others. I've always enjoyed listening to others’ point-of-view on topics and helping them. Some challenges I think I'll face towards this year will be getting my big ideas (if i have them) into action, students not trusting me fully to voice their concerns and because I'm only in the first term in Year 7, I'm still new to this school and I have a lot to learn. I'm looking forward to showing my leadership at camp! I’m just overall looking forward to a great year at Kurnai Morwell!

YEAR 8

Lucas Brooks: I wanted to be a student leader to make the school a safe place for learning and a place you could get help if needed. I expect enforcing rules and getting students to adapt to these rules would benefit the school massively but might be a small challenge for our team to get this to happen perfectly. I am enjoying getting to know others in this position and working together to come up with sophisticated ideas to help the school be a better place to learn and socialise.

Shanaya Rota: What made me want to become a student leader was the thought of being able to help others and lead them onto a path that could help their confidence or positive feelings in the future. I also wanted to become a student leader to try on a new role and see if i were fit to complete it. I see two elements of leadership that i would struggle in most which are known as 'influence' and 'communication'. Communication because I don't speak that freely or confidently to a crowd, let alone my own classroom. I fear that I'd be judged which is a show that my anxiety takes over. Influence because I feel like I wouldn't have the strongest ability in changing minds or thoughts. I would struggle in coming up with ways to change their minds and get them onto a different path. I feel like the element of leadership I'm liking most so far would have to be 'vision'. I think I enjoy vision the most because it challenges me to see things from the point-of-view of others and it gives me the ideas of what might be intriguing to the eyes of others and what they may like.

Isabella-Rose Williams: What made me become a student leader is so I can overcome my fear of talking in front of a lot of people and share some problems or ideas to make the school a better place for us students. One of the elements of leadership I expect to be the most challenging is decision-making for the school. One of the elements of leadership I’m enjoying the most so far is communication as I get to talk with other students within the role and come up with ideas or issues that are in the school.

Ashden Madex: I wanted to be a Student Leader because I like a bit of extra responsibility. I have also been a part of leadership since Grade 5, which has included House Captain for two years and now Student Leader for two years. I believe the most challenging part of being a Student Leader this year will be doing my fellow peers justice when it comes to making the school a better place. My favourite part of being a Student Leader so far this year was the meeting with Mr Rodaughan, Mr Swallow, Mr Derkacs, and Mr McGrath.

YEAR 9

Rahni Mrzygloski: Hello, my name is Rahni. I am 14 years old, and I am one of the Year 9 Student Leaders. This year I applied for student leader because I want to improve this school, not only the people here today but for people in the future with the opinions of myself and other students. Something I believe will be challenging for me is coming up with solutions that will fix the issues we face at school, which is why I am so glad I have other people with different perspectives and opinions to help me which I have really enjoyed listening to so far.

Kara Phillips: My name is Kara Phillips and I am one of the Year 9 Student Leaders at Kurnai. I wanted to be a Student Leader so I help others and gain more confidence to be a better leader. I believe the most challenging part of leadership will be finding the confidence to share my thoughts. This is something that I have been working on in school and through my love of theatre outside of school. I am looking forward to helping others and creating a fun, engaging environment for everyone.

Cody Valasinavicius: I wanted to be a student leader because I thought it will be a good opportunity for my time at Kurnai. The thing I find challenging is I have to keep up with the important dates like Student Free Days and more. The element of leadership I am enjoying so far is hearing everybody’s voice and listening to what they have to say.

YEAR 10 - SCHOOL CAPTAINS

Chelsea Parr: Hi, my name is Chelsea Parr. I became School Captain to be the voice for my peers who didn’t have the confidence to speak up about things that needed to be changed. During my leadership role this year I expect to be challenged most by all the public speaking roles I must partake in, although I will be enjoying the responsibility that I will be given this year.

Isabella Laming: Hello, my name is Isabella Laming. I have been a student leader for four years and am so glad to complete my final year at the junior campus as School Captain!

In Year 7, when I first became Student Leader, I wanted to help make a difference within the school by organizing events, fundraisers and be a voice for my fellow peers. But, throughout my time as a Student Leader I have accomplished so much more. I have helped with transition days for upcoming students, I have been a part of writing newsletters and have learnt leadership skills that'll help me in future careers. Each year, these are the reasons I continue to put my name in for student leader positions.

This year will be my most challenging as I get to run assemblies, make a final speech at the end-of-year awards ceremony and take on even more responsibility as the year goes on. What I have enjoyed so far was the first meeting we had. We all came together and discussed long-term and short-term goals that we, as a team, can work towards. I have also enjoyed the small things that we have already accomplished for term 1.

VICE CAPTAINS

Paige Mann: I put my name to be a student leader because I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. I transferred to Kurnai from a much larger school and liked the supportive environment that the leaders created here.

The most challenging part of leadership for me would be public speaking. While I find this really difficult it's a great skill to have. The element of leadership I'm enjoying so far is knowing that I have a voice in a leadership group. It makes me feel comfortable to advocate for all students in decision-making.

Evan Hill: What made me want to be a student leader this year was the idea of having an impact. The most challenging bit for me is sitting in on the meetings and listening to others whilst being quiet and sitting still, because I get excited. So far I have enjoyed the meeting we had with Mr Rodaughan expressing some issues we've had.

Mr Dan Swallow