Assistant Principal 

Welcome back to all members of the Lalor College community. We hope this year will be a successful one for all of our students in the senior years. The year 12 students launched their year with a three-day Study Conference at Lady Northcote Recreation camp, where they we treated to a variety of activities to challenge and motivate them for what will be a fabulous year ahead.  I was fortunate to attend the first day, and privileged to listen along to a speaker from Elevate who provided a very informative session on how to maximise study practices to achieve academic goals. This was the very first activity of the camp, and it really supported our key messages required for a strong start to the year, and gently shifted the focus away from holidays to the serious side of preparing to be a successful student in year 12. A huge thank you to the year 12 staff who attended the camp and supported the students to have a wonderful time Thank you to Kat Carmody and the year 12 student managers, Simon Hill and Zak Zdraveska as well as Kate Brittingham for their tremendous planning and energy throughout the three days to ensure the camp was an enjoyable one for all students.

During the camp students also participated in a number activities which stretchered their comfort zones and reinforced personal confidence through a series of team-based challenges. Essential life skills which extend to all domains of our daily lives.

The Year 11 program started with a full day of re connection activities, designed to allow students to refocus and settle back into an academic routine. Students completed activities to allow for discussion and thinking regarding resilience and the personal skills and attitudes, or mindsets, to address working towards goals productively. Thank you to Olivia Marangos and Mario Ladnjak, the year 11 student managers for the planning of the program. 

After a fabulous start to the new school year, the senior school has settled into a busy rhythm, with students finding their feet and preparing for their first (CAT) common assessment task in their relevant studies. As parents and guardians, can you please take the time to quickly check to ensure that all senior students have their required text books and subject requisites, as they will not be able to achieve their very best if they already behind in vital materials. I am pleased to say most students are well placed with these necessities, however, there are some instances where a few students have not purchased class text books.

Financial assistance is available to families who maybe experiencing financial hardship.

The college has also purchased subscriptions to Edrolo for our year 12 students to supplement their classroom learning experience so that they may be armed with additional resources and content tutorials to place them in good stead to do well in their studies. Please support us, in encouraging your kids to log on and regularly use this platform as a routine part of their weekly study. Features include quizzes and practice exam questions for a multitude of topics.

On a similar note, the college has purchased a Mathspace subscription for all math students in years 7 to 10. This platform allows for tailored adaptive student learning of essential math skills. Some students may exhibit Maths anxiety and sadly may not view themselves as “Maths people”. This platform allows teachers to assign learning tasks at the student’s individual point of learning need which provides support at the exact moment of any misconception in understanding which may be displayed by students. Together with the teacher, homework tasks generated by Mathspace provide personalized practice and support at each step. We expect to see improved student proficiency and engagement through regular use of this program. Please support your child by asking them about the program, how they are going and encouraging completion of homework.

Please as always feel free to contact myself or members of the senior school team with any queries or concerns you may have.

Here to what I am confident will be a highly successful year at Lalor Secondary College.

Laura Forster.

Assistant Principal