Principal Report
Another busy term!
End of Semester 1
As we finish Semester 1 this week, I would like to thank all of our students, families and staff for their endeavour and efforts, resilience, creativity and collaboration across the Semester. Schools are generally very busy places, and this past semester at Koonung has been both very busy and very productive.
I am constantly in awe of our hard-working staff, who on top of their excellent classroom practice, continue to offer their time and skills in a wide range of co curricula and extra curricula activities. I am proud of our students who live of motto of ‘Excellence through Endeavour’, who take the opportunities, both inside and outside of the classroom, to involve themselves into the College Community. Finally, I am thankful of our parent community for your support of your child and their learning.
It has been a busy semester, so please take the opportunity of the winter break to recharge your batteries, spend quality family time together and rest before coming back for the start of Term 3 on Monday 15 July.
The Semester 1 reports will be published to all parents on Friday 28 June through Compass.
School Review- Term4
In Term 4, Koonung will undertake its school review. All Victorian Government schools are required to undertake a school review every 4 years and then complete a 4-year School Strategic Plan. As part of this review, we will review every policy in the College, our Curriculum and assessment and how we approach teaching and learning and well-being supports.
A key aspect of the review is to consult with staff, students, parents and the wider community about our progress, achievements and future focus. Thank you to the families who attended one of the Term 2 Parent Focus groups. Your feedback and input will help shape our future directions. As part of this review, all of Koonung's policies will be moving from Compass to our College web page.
Child safety and wellbeing at Koonung Secondary College: Information for families and the school community
Koonung is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.
Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our website: Policies (koonung.vic.edu.au)
We are also committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. We are currently reviewing our child safety policies and practices to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.
Our students and families are important partners in this process. We welcome your feedback or ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Conor Sheehan (Assistant Principal) on 9890 9662 or conor.sheehan@education.vic.gov.au
Events
It has again been a very busy May and June here at Koonung. I would like to highlight a few events from the past month.
Congratulations to our Year 7 students for completing 100 days of Year 7. The Middle School Team will host a celebration event for our students, with a wide range of fun activities on Wednesday 24 July.
Congratulations to Year 9 students who represented Koonung and won the recent Deakin University Science and Engineering Challenge. This challenge pitted teams of students from many Melbourne schools against each other in a competition designed around science and engineering challenges. Koonung Secondary College was announced as 'Champion School' with our students winning on the day. They now move on to the State Championship which will be hosted by Deakin University in Geelong next term.
Year 9 'Champions'
Year 9 'Champions'
The Year 11 and 12 Formal was held this week at The Grand on Cathies Lane. A fantastic way to end the semester. The students looked amazing and danced the night away!
We hosted our annual Technology Week and Visual Arts Week student displays. Please see the Visual Arts and Technology pages in this newsletter with photos and more details.
Our Year 10 students have just completed a week of Work Experience. Our staff have loved visiting the students in their workplace and we look forward to presenting some of the stories of work experience in our next newsletter.
Term 2 is also a busy term for Interschool sport- with Koonung students demonstrating key skills in team work and effort in a wide range of sports and carnivals. Every day our students strive to achieve at their best on the sporting fields, but I would like to recognise Nate Uecker of Year 12 who won the Regional Cross Country in the Open Division with a blistering time of 16 mins over 5 kms. Well done Nate.
You may have even caught Koonung featuring on the Channel 10 Weather and news earlier this term. Led by Sienna Forrest (Year 11) and JP O'Brien (Year 12), Koonung students completed 90,000 push ups and raised over $3,000 for Mental Health awareness and support as part of the Push Up Challenge. This included hosting Channel 10 News and featuring as part of the weather crosses on the evening. Well done Koonung!
This term we have been fortunate to have a number of Koonung's Alumni come back into the College to present to our current students. We are so proud of the pathways and careers being forged by past Koonung students and privileged for them to come back and share their stories with our current students. Check out the alumni page in this newsletter for more details.
Finally, the end of the semester not only means the Semester report, but also Exams. Well done to our students for their participation in Exams this semester.
Please support our wonderfully talented and hard-working students in the upcoming College Musical, ‘Shrek- The Musical’. Performances begin on Thursday 25 July and run until Saturday 3 August. Tickets are available for purchase now.
Tickets available from the following link-
Koonung Musical 2024 Tickets, Koonung Theatre, Mont Albert North | TryBooking Australia
Term 3- Pathways Planning
Term 3 is traditionally the term where our thoughts turn towards Pathways planning. This includes a wide range of activities including Year 9 Morrisby Testing, as well as subject expos, handbooks and Information nights for parents about programs, subjects and subject selection. Please be mindful and pencil into your calendars the following key events and their dates-
Monday 15 July
VM/VPC Intake interviews
Monday 15 - Friday 26 July
Year 9 Morrisby interviews
Wednesday 17 July
Year 10 into Year 11 Subject Selection Parent information session 6:30pm
Tuesday 23 July
Year 9 into Year 10 Subject Selection Parent Information session 6:30pm
Thursday 25 July
Curriculum Planning Day (no scheduled classes)
College Musical opening night
Friday 26 July
Year 11 into Year 12 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 11 classes)
Tuesday 30 July
Year 8 into Year 9 Subject Selection Assembly
SEEK Parent Information session (for current families of SEEK students in Years 7, 8 and 9)
Wednesday 31 July
Year 10 into Year 11 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 10 classes)
Thursday 1 August
Year 9 into Year 10 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 9 classes)
Uniform
Thank you to our students and parents for supporting the College's uniform policy. There will be some changes to our uniform in 2025 based on feedback and input from parents, staff and students. this will include the introduction of a soft-shell jacket to replace and phase out the current spray jacket as part of the PE uniform.
I would like to remind all students and families that the wearing of hoodies, either under the PE or Academic shirt or under the Blazer or Spray jacket is not permitted. All students wearing hoodies at school will be directed to remove them and can be collected at the end of the school day. The College has numerous items of clothing that provide warmth and are part of the College uniform.
2023 Drama student, Toby Griffiths, performs at Top Acts
Once again Koonung can be incredibly proud of its Drama students as Toby Griffiths, Drama Dux of 2023, performed in the VCAA’s Season of Excellence Top Acts gala. Top Acts is the best of the best student performers from VCE Drama, Theatre Studies, Dance, and Music and boasts incredible talent across all artistic disciplines. Toby’s Drama solo, Dennis Denuto, was chosen as one of the Top Class, best 25 solos in the state in 2023 and then, even more impressively, was chosen as one of the best three for Top Acts. This is an incredible achievement and Koonung Secondary could not be prouder of Toby and his wonderful creativity and talent
Super Speak Achievement Award
Congratulations to Patrick Xu of Year 8 on receiving their Super Speak Achievement Award. This award is presented to students who have completed 2.5 years of Public Speaking and Communication Skills training at Super Speak (equivalent to 100 hours) and presented 15 formal solo speeches. Well done Patrick.
Australian U/13 Tennis Championships
Congratulations to Pauline Ma of Year 8 who recently represented Victoria at the Australian Under 13s Teams Tennis Championships. Pauline balances her time between being on the road participating in junior tennis competitions and completing her studies as a Koonung Student. Well done Pauline.
Facebook and Instagram
The College utilises social media to provide quick updates, interesting events, and lots of photos to our community.
We have one official Facebook page and three Instagram pages for members of our community to follow.
https://www.facebook.com/koonungsecondarycollege/
Official School Account
https://www.instagram.com/koonung.secondary.college/
Instagram (Library Account)
https://www.instagram.com/ksclibrary/
Instagram (Student Leaders)
https://www.instagram.com/koonung_secondary_college/
Andrew McNeil
Principal
andrew.mcneil@education.vic.gov.au