Middle Years News
2024 Recap
Congratulations to all members of the Koonung community for an incredibly successful 2024. We have seen a huge amount of success in the community this year in student learning and their development. I want to congratulate all students within the Middle School on the resilience and positive attitudes they have displayed throughout this year.
In true Koonung style, the tail end of the year has been incredibly busy. We have seen our Year 7 students complete their first year of High School, the Year 8s continue their development and consolidate their learning and the Year 9s complete their first round of exams, AND their journey as Middle School students! We wish them all the best as they start their journey in Senior School!
Finally, I would like to extend my congratulations to all the Middle School award winners who were celebrated at our recent Presentation Evening who achieved excellent results this year. Congratulations on your excellent work this year.
I want to thank each and every student for their contributions and the work they have undertaken this year. I hope each one of you takes the time throughout the upcoming break to rest, relax and reset for 2025.
Introducing the 2025 Middle School Team
The 2025 Middle School team will remain consistent with the 2024 team. I would like to welcome Mr Jordan Dunn back to the team.
The team for 2025 will consist of:
Mat Delaney – Head of Middle School
Katrina Pumpa – Middle Years Administrator
Lauren Hughes – Year 7 Coordinator
Nikita Natsis – Year 8 Coordinator
Stuart Kofoed – Year 9 Coordinator
Owen Lovelace-Tozer – Middle Years Coordinator
Jordan Dunn – Middle Years Coordinator
Introducing your 2025 Middle Years Captains
The Middle School Captaincy role is an integral role to our Middle School program, and the selected Captains represent the voice and views of the Middle Years students in the wider school sphere. I want to thank and congratulate the 2024 Captains - Stephanie Coleman, Izzy Johnstone, Ryan Li and Zarah Shepherd for their leadership and contributions.
It also gives me great pleasure to welcome the 2025 Middle Years Captains – Rachel Go, Moksha Iyer, Jun Mieu and Tiana Nguyen. We are excited to see what you’ll achieve in this role!
2025 will also see the introduction of the Middle Year House Captains role, to strengthen student connection to each other and to their house. I am excited to announce Ruth Chen (Conder), Neve Murley (McCubbin), Catherine To (Roberts) and Neve Crouch (Streeton) as the House Captains for 2025.
Year 9 Transition to Senior School
Across their final week as Middle School students, the Year 9 (soon to be Year 10s) completed their first round of exams. Despite their nerves, Mr Kofoed and I were very impressed with the students’ approach and conduct towards their exams.
Students then spent their last few days participating in a range of workshops designed to equip them with skills to assist them in their transition to Senior School (and beyond). The future Year 10s learnt how to be a supportive peer, got to know the Senior School team, started their preparations for Work Experience, and, were able to further foster their connections to each other through workshops facilitated by our 2025 Student Leadership Team. We hope that these newly acquired skills will help you as your move forward on your journeys.
The Year 9 program finished with an excursion to Funfields, where students were able to celebrate the end of their Middle School journey. Well done to the Year 9 cohort, we are excited to see what you’ll achieve in the next stages of your journey!
Orientation Day
On Tuesday 10 December, we welcomed our 2025 Year 7 cohort to Koonung for their Orientation Day. It was a fun filled day, with students interacting with their future peers and teachers. The future Year 7s participated in some team building activities in HPE, conducted experiments in Science, created a collage in Art, entered the virtual space in Digital Technology and wrote a letter to their future self in English. A highlight of the day was definitely the music concert, where current Koonung students were able to demonstrate the skills they’ve learnt and acquired throughout their time in the Instrumental Music program.
The Year 10 Peer Mentors and Year 8 Transition Mentors did an outstanding job in making the future Year 7s feel welcome, and we will continue to build and foster these relationships in Positive Classrooms next year. Well done to all, and welcome to all new Koonung students!
The 2025 Middle School team is your primary contact for you regarding any matters relating to your child in Years 7-9.
Mat Delaney
Head of Middle School
Vic Coding Challenge
On October 25th, a team of four Year 9 students represented our school at the VIC Coding Challenge, held at Docklands. Competing against 20 teams from across the state, Ethan, Ryan, Thomas, and Monty showcased their skills in a range of coding and problem-solving activities. The competition featured three challenging parts: “Unplugged Relays,” focusing on logical questions on paper; the “Main Challenge,” where teams tackled digital algorithmic problems; and the “Agent Games,” which required critical thinking to strategize against other teams.
Our team’s hard work and collaboration paid off as they achieved an impressive 3rd place finish, each earning a $30 gift card for their accomplishment. We are incredibly proud of their dedication and look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in the coding world next year. Congratulations, team!
Next year, the competition kicks off in April and will be open to all year 7-10 students. We would like to encourage all students with an interest in coding and problem solving within collaborative teams to get involved in this amazing opportunity.
Please contact Ms Su on weimin.su@education.vic.gov.au for more information.
Ms Weimin Su - Digital Technology Teacher
Ms Lydia Tomic - Excellence and High-Ability Practice Leader
Visit from Grade 5 students, Birralee Primary School
Birralee Grade 5 students visited Koonung on Friday 13 December to experience some high school activities run by our wonderful staff and student leaders. Middle Years leaders ably assisted the groups of Grade 5s in cooking, sport, art and STEM activities. The Birralee students had an amazing time and had their fear of high school alleviated. Thank you so much to our staff and incredible student leaders who ran the engaging events.
Peter Hodkinson
Director of Learning – Agency and Community