Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

A big hello to the Mordialloc College school community! Term one has been a whirlwind but a huge thank you to our staff, students and families for supporting one another for an extremely smooth and positive start to the school year. As we settled into our classes and the routine of arriving on time each morning, we hope to keep the momentum going with set class work and homework moving into the end of term. I’d like to remind students and families that we are here to help our students achieve the best that they can. All you have to do is ask and we can support.

Our Year 7’s have settled into Mordialloc College life. They have been welcomed by the school at their first whole school assembly, worked on their team building skills at the Cable Park and Mordialloc Beach and got to know our wonderful year 7 staff. We had a great turnout at our Year 7 Meet and Greet, thank you to the families who were able to attend, meet our Year 7 and Junior School team and take a look at the wonderful Learning Centre.

The Year 8s have had a positive start to the school year. Throughout the term the Year 8 students have been training and participating in a weekly interschool sports competition against other local schools in Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Tennis and Cricket. Everyone who has participated has represented the school to a very high level.

Our Year 9 students have also had a busy term. The MEX 2.0 program is well underway with our students learning about our local and wider community. The Year 9 students have also had their first experience with elective subjects which has given them a great taste of where their pathways might lead moving into Senior school and beyond.

Like the Year 7 cohort, our Year 9 students have also just completed NAPLAN. A big thank you to our Assistant Principal, Aaron Davis, for organising and running the days of testing supported by our ICT team (and the practice sessions in the lead-up to ensure the College could meet all technical requirements of the online tests and for students to be familiarised with the online process), and our Learning Specialists.

Our Year 10 students have had a busy term in the Pathways space. They have attended their first Careers Expo and have had a number of Careers aspirations sessions presented by members of our local community. Health industries, Sciences, Early Childhood, Marketing, various Apprenticeships, Sustainability, Art and Design are only some of the presentations our students were able to engage in. Our students are all very close to finalising their placements for Work Experience early Term 2 and we hope that these experiences will support their planning as they move into VCE course selections next term.

The term for our Senior School students overall has been excellent. The start to this year has been smooth, thanks to the hard work of our Year Level Coordinators and teachers, with students clearly embracing the college values, as well as the academic challenges of senior life. Students have completed multiple SACs and competencies while participating in in various camps, excursions and sporting activities. Our Year 11 and 12 VCE students are refining their study skills and the VCE VM students are making great progress in their work placements and school based apprenticeships. We have been successful in securing places in the Headstart program for a number of our VM students – an awesome program to support students to complete an apprenticeship or traineeship alongside their senior secondary education.

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

A final reminder – bookings close tomorrow for our online Parent, Teacher Student interviews on Tuesday 1st April from 9:15 am – 6:30 pm. We hope that parents and students will find these to be valuable in terms of meeting teachers face to face online and discussing your student’s progress and, in the feedback, received. We hope that by continuing with interviews online, you find it easier to manage around other commitments. If you haven’t been able to attend the interviews remotely via Google Meet and wish to discuss your child’s progress with a particular teacher or teachers, please contact them via email to organise a time to discuss on the phone or over a Google Meet at another mutually convenient time. If you have any feedback regarding the interview set up and process, please do not hesitate to email the General Office and the Principal team will discuss to further improve for Semester 2.

Athletics Carnival

A reminder that we end the term next week with our Athletics carnival which will be held at the Sandringham Athletics Club. We encourage students to come along dressed in their house colours and costumes adding to the terrific atmosphere we always experience on this day. Thanks to our Sports Carnival Coordinator, Cory Watters for his organisation of this event, which is always very popular with the entire student cohort.

Wow! What a term! Thank you to our staff and students for making it such a successful one.

Have a great last week of term and safe and relaxing Easter and holiday break with family and friends!

Tracey Bastin

Assistant Principal

Wellbeing Supports Update