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 would like to congratulate our students for this semester. There are so many opportunities available for our students on top of our academic program, so thank you to our students for demonstrating our College value of ‘endeavour’ through working hard and having a go at a wide range of activities. Thank you also to our students who completed the recent period of End of Semester exams and to all students for their diligence and effort in completing Assessment Tasks. Well done to our Year 10 students who have recently completed Work Experience, our amazing Year 7 cohort who this week celebrated their first 100 days of high school, and finally, to our brilliant Year 12 cohort. Year 12 is hard. The societal expectations placed on our young people, both academically and socially are immense, so it fills me with pride when I enter a Year 12 class, or the VCE common room and see both how hard they are working, and also how they interact with each other, our staff and the younger students. I encourage them all to have a break over these upcoming holidays and prepare themselves for the final stretch of their schooling when they return in Term 3.
Thank you to our teaching and education support staff. 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. Finally, I am thankful of our parent community for your support of your child and their learning. Thank you for your ongoing support. Thank you to Ms Mary Eade, who has been Acting Principal for most of this term as I have been overseas on both our Exchange trip and undertaking work for the Department in International Education in both South Korea and Japan.
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 14 July.
The Semester 1 reports will be published to all parents on Friday 4 July through Compass.
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 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:
Friday 4 July
All Pathways Handbooks on College Website
Monday 28 July
VM/VPC Intake interviews begin
Wednesday 23 July
Year 10 into Year 11 Subject Selection Parent information session 6:30pm
Tuesday 29 July
Year 9 into Year 10 Subject Selection Parent Information session 6:30pm
Friday 1 August
Year 11 into Year 12 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 11 classes)
Tuesday 30 July
Year 8 into Year 9 Subject Selection Assembly
Wednesday 4 August
Year 10 into Year 11 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 10 classes)
Thursday 7 August
Year 9 into Year 10 1:1 Subject interviews (no Year 9 classes)
KSC student is a finalist in 'Young Archies Competition
Congratulations to Year 8 student, Shanelle Heng. Shanelle entered a portrait of her father in the '2025 Young Archies Competition' and is now a finalist in the 13-15 age group with her work currently on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Read more about Shanelle's incredible work on the Visual Arts page.
Japan Exchange Trip 2025
I have had the privilege to be a participant on Koonung's 2025 Japan Exchange trip to our sister school in Japan- Matsudo High School or as it is known in Japan- Ichimatsu.
This was our first exchange since before COVID so it fantastic to get back to Ichimatsu and meet with the Principal and staff and renew our long-standing sister school arrangement. For our students, it was a great opportunity to immerse themselves into Japanese culture, a Japanese family and a Japanese school. This was outstanding preparation both for VCE Japanese, and in forming long term friendships and connections with their hosts and buddies at Ichimatsu.
Please see the Japanese Exchange page in this newsletter for more details and amazing photos of a fantastic opportunity for our students.
A star cricketer on staff....
While we are on the topic of Japan, congratulations to Koonung Japanese Teacher, Mai Yanagida, who recently captained the Japan Women's Cricket Team in the Sano City International Trophy. Mai (holding the trophy) and her team secured a win to take home the trophy for the first time in 13 years.
Here’s a news article from the Japan Cricket Association with more details:
https://cricket.or.jp/en/archives/31509
College social media channels
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.
OFFICIAL COLLEGE ACCOUNT
https://www.facebook.com/koonungsecondarycollege/
OFFICIAL COLLEGE ACCOUNT
https://www.instagram.com/koonung.secondary.college/
LIBRARY ACCOUNT
https://www.instagram.com/ksclibrary/
STUDENT LEADERS ACCOUNT
https://www.instagram.com/koonung_secondary_college/
ALUMNI PROGRAM SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
The Koonung Secondary College alumni program utilises social media to stay connect with alumni.
FOLLOW THE ALUMNI PROGRAM ON SOCIALS.
Andrew McNeil
Principal
andrew.mcneil@education.vic.gov.au