eLearning Update

Dear Mordialloc College Community Members,

The College calendar has continued to be jam-packed! Last week saw the fantastic College Production performances, a number of excursions including to the Melbourne International Film Festival and sporting competitions, National Science Week, and a hotly contested Staff vs Year 12 basketball game. Thank you to all staff and students participating in the wide variety of events and activities, particularly to the Production Team.

This week sees students visiting the zoo and competing in the Kingston Athletics Carnival, our Year 9 Resilience Day, and of course Parent Teacher Interviews today; with Year 7 Aquarium visits and our Music Department’s Instrumental Music Showcase the following week.

Devices at school

Mordialloc College is a BYOD school, and it is expected that students will bring their device in good working order, charged and ready to go each morning. 

We are seeing a number of students coming to IT with discharged devices, and often at the start of the day, suggesting they have been staying up late gaming or socialising online. This not only impacts their ability to participate in class, but can impact on their ability to learn. Our SchoolTV parent resource has some suggestions on how to support your child to manage their digital device usage at home.

Phones at school

We’d also like to remind the school community that student mobile phones are banned at Mordialloc College during school hours, in line with government guidelines. Students can securely store their mobile phones in their lockers during school hours, but if they are spotted using a mobile phone, it will be confiscated. This also extends to the use of mobile hotspotting, which is prohibited by our College Acceptable Use Agreement.

eSafety and Cybersecurity

We take eSafety and Cybersecurity seriously at Mordialloc College, with inclusion in our curriculum in Home Group and Mentor programs and in Digital Technologies Our IT team also proactively monitors and responds to issues involving school systems.

However, we need families to be partners in eSafety and cybersecurity, as there are many online services students can use while not at school. The eSafety Commissioner has a range of webinars for parents and carers coming up, along with a toolbox of resources. More resources can also be found in our SchoolTV parent portal.

Given the increasing number of cybersecurity incidents, it may also be wise to do a security checkup of your family’s various online accounts. The Australian Cyber Security Centre has a range of guides for how to protect yourself and your family online, including using secure passphrases, multifactor authentication, and keeping devices up to date.

Simon Belluzzo

Director of eLearning, Data Analytics and STEM