Assistant Principal Reports
Welcome Back Delightful Students
It was great to see our students looking well rested, in full school uniform and eager for an exciting year of learning.
Students as leaders
The resilience and adaptability of our students and staff is encouraging and should be commended. The consequences of the storm damage this week enabled students and staff to shine and make the best of the situation. On Thursday 15 February, Jack Harper and Harper Allan from Year 10, in the absence of power, used the Learning Circle to create a well contained fire within a steel fire pit to heat up water and make hot milo for every student in attendance. Witnessing the appreciation of the initiative and collaboration between students was rewarding.
Although student numbers in attendance were reduced due to the widespread power outages, teachers worked in teams to ensure that students present were well engaged in learning, albeit in an alternative program.
VCE Vocational Major
On Friday 16 February, the VCE Vocational Major students spent much of the day teaching Year 7 and Year 8 Physical Education classes.
The Year 11 and 12 students carried themselves very well and worked together to develop lessons in accordance with the rigorous senior secondary curriculum. Students rotated their leadership responsibilities and were well received by the Year 7 and 8 students. It was pleasing to witness the VCE students interact so caringly with the younger year levels and to celebrate their success with them. The genuine sense of achievement and community was palpable.
Year 12 Residential
Our Year 12 students were exemplary at the Year 12 Residential Study Camp held at The University of Melbourne and received accolades from university staff, who were visibly frustrated with the behaviour of students from another school on campus.
It is pleasing to see that the Scoresby Secondary College students continue to impress the community whenever involved in school activities.
The residential helped the students to focus on a positive start to their final year of schooling.
Year 7 Camp
Our Year 7 students have settled well into secondary schooling and will embark on the Year 7 Transition Camp to Camp Rumbug at the end of this month. They will have the opportunity to challenge themselves and build positive relationships with their peers as they develop new friendships and strengthen others.
Homework
Meaningful homework is a component of secondary schooling and provides conditioning for the VCE years. All students are expected to complete homework tasks that teachers set to ensure a deep understanding of the topics covered in class.
Regardless of whether homework is set or not, because students are exposed to hundreds of stimuli each lesson, unless they revisit the material covered, it will most likely be forgotten or not fully understood. Therefore, it is good practice for students to get into the habit of completing work at home.
Students can begin by spending 10 minutes per class going over what they covered in each class that day. This will enable students to cement their understanding, or to ask questions of the teacher the next class to develop a clear understanding.
Getting into this habit will not only enable students to better understand the topics, but it will also condition students for home study as it will take 50 minutes each evening because students undertake 5 classes per day.
As students progress from Year 7 to subsequent year levels, the duration of home study should increase so that students are gradually conditioned to complete a minimum of 3 hours of study each evening during VCE.
The College offers a homework club in the Resource Centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays 3.00pm - 4.00pm and Senior School The first session commences on 5 March and parent permission required. Homework club supports students to complete set tasks in a supportive learning environment where they can receive assistance from teachers. All students are welcome to attend. Teachers are also willing to make themselves available to assist students, when not teaching.
Mr Ayman Youssef
Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning
Start of the Year Highlight
The start of the year is always a highlight for staff at Scoresby Secondary College. The excitement generated by students as they share stories from their Christmas break holidays and enter our classrooms so eager to learn is really uplifting for all staff. It was evident, from the beginning of Term 1, that students are focused on their learning.
Over the Christmas break, Peter, from our grounds team, did a wonderful job in maintaining our beautiful outside environment. Our gym was also resurfaced during this time, ready for another year of indoor activities.
We held our first whole school assembly for the year in Week 1. This was a great opportunity to formally welcome our students back for 2024, and importantly meet our 2024 student leadership team. School Captains Brayden Corey (pictured) and Loren Watson and our School Vice-captains Anna Harper and Zachariah Bissett lead assemblies.
Finally, a shout out to our wonderful college community. On Wednesday 14 February the college was cancelled due to damage from the previous days horrendous weather. Mrs Tate, Ms Kim, other staff and I were standing in the intermittent rain informing parents who had missed the SMS and Compass posts as they dropped off their children of the closure. The amount of offers we received for umbrellas, or a coffee was overwhelming and fills me with a sense of pride to belong to such a wonderful community.
I would like to conclude by wishing all in our Scoresby Secondary College community a safe and prosperous 2024.
Mr Mark Corrie
Assistant Principal - Operations