Principal Report  

Welcome/Welcome Back

Welcome back for the 2025 school year to our returning Koonung Secondary College families and a special welcome to our new students and families who are joining us this year. 

We hope that every family had an enjoyable and safe holiday break and that you feel ready for a productive year. This year we continue to grow. We welcome our largest ever cohort of Year 7 students with over 230 students, and we also welcome 50 new students in other year levels to the College. It has been fantastic for me to see our Koonung students so enthusiastic to be back ready and equipped for learning and I thank all of our families for your support and helping to make this transition back to school so seamless.

Year 12 Results -2024 

Before I outline the exceptional achievement of our 2024 cohort of students, I would like to remind all families that the ATAR and scored VCE is just one of the pathways available for students at Koonung. Together with scored VCE, some students undertake a non-scored VCE and in 2023 we introduced the Vocational Major VCE, in which students can undertake VET and School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships to achieve the VCE VM. In 2024, our first cohort of Vocational Major students completed the VCE, with outstanding achievements and pathways developed. However, the vast majority (over 90% of students) undertake a scored VCE. 

Much is spoken about the VCE, ATARS and the Median Study Score of a school. We are pleased to share that the achievement of the 2024 cohort of students has been exceptional. You may be aware of the dux of the College, Sky Or and his outstanding ATAR of 98, but there were also 42 other students who achieved an ATAR higher than 90 which constituted 27% of all students. 27% of our students achieved an ATAR higher that 90 with an overall average ATAR of 80. 

We are also pleased to share that the high-level achievement of our students saw a Median study score of the College of 32. This sees the achievement of our Koonung students amongst the best of government schools in Victoria. Congratulations to our students for their hard work and achievement, a big thank you to our brilliant teachers and support staff for their work and thank you to you, our families for your support as we work together to see our Koonung students work hard to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Japanese Exchange Program 

This week we welcomed 10 students from Matsudo City (Japan) as part of the Whitehorse Council/Matsudo City sister-city relationship. 

The sister city relationship between Whitehorse and Matsudo is one of the longest established sister city relationships running in Australia, so we are honoured to welcome the students to  Koonung, Whitehorse and indeed Australia. This relationship is vital in building cross cultural connections in an age when our world is becoming more globalised, so welcome and we look forward to learning together during the duration of their stay. 

Our sister school relationship with Matsudo Municipal High School and with all City of Matsudo high schools through this exchange not only deepens our language program here at the college, but also deepens the international friendship, goodwill, harmony and understanding that makes our world a better place. As we continue to progress in this century of globalism, the relationships made at a system level between Whitehorse Council and the City of Matsudo, and at the school level between Koonung and the schools in Matsudo facilitate the opportunities to build relationships at the level of our students, who are our future leaders- for it is these global yet local relationships will lead to the mutual benefit for all of us and our future generations. 

So, Welcome to our guests for Matsudo, and I look forward to seeing them in our classes and with our students, and hope they have a fantastic time here while on exchange and make many happy memories. A big thank you to Ms Mia Poulton for organising this exchange and our upcoming exchange visit to Japan. 

Connections and Programs 

We know that student connections are vital in the success of students when at school. These connections include to their peers, their teachers and to programs and subjects in which they have passion, interest and talent. It is why our Positive Classrooms program at Year 7 and 8 and the Live Life program at Year 9 are integral parts of our curriculum as they are designed to build both connections, but also resilience and wellbeing. 

The College also operates a wide range of co-curricula and extra curricula programs designed to support connection, well-being, resilience and achievement. These programs include-

VHAP- Victorian High Ability Program- Extension in Literacy and Numeracy- organised by the Department of Education and run each term in the College.

MHAP- Maths High Achievers Program- extension program organised by the College and run every term.

Math Support- Math support is a targeted program to support students who would benefit from some extra support with their classroom learning. 

Quick Smart Literacy and Numeracy- Support program offered by the College. Run before school with small group and individual support provided by Quick Smart tutors.

TLI- Tutor Learning Initiative- Ongoing program supporting students in Literacy and Numeracy.

ESV- Emerging Science Victoria- Semester length virtual Science program for Year 9 and 10 students conducted through John Monash Science School.

CHES- Centre for Higher Educational Studies. CHES run Year 10 Enrichment programs, VCE studies in Algorithmics and Higher Education Studies for early start into University. 

Instrumental Music- Small group and individual music lessons for students in instruments including; Woodwind, Brass, Strings, Percussion, Guitar and Voice.

Koonung Dance- New to Koonung in 2025! We are pleased to further extend our offering in the Performing Arts field to include a Dance program. Open to Middle School students, the Dance program has started well with Hip Hop classes occurring in the College Theatre after school on Mondays. Places are still available for Semester 2, so please contact the College if interested.

Production- Every year the College runs a student led production. This year it is Chicago the Musical.

Lunch-time Clubs- A wide range of student interest clubs conducted during lunchtimes. This includes STEM club, Table Top Gaming, chess, Futsal, K-Pop dancing, Culture Club, Warhammer Club, etc. 

Inter-school Sport- Koonung is proud of the achievements of its students in all School Sport Victoria (SSV) Round Robins and carnivals. Students in Year 7 and 8 can participate in one of Koonung's many sporting teams through their weekly Sport Ed class, with students in Years 9-12 able to sign up for sporting teams. Students are encouraged to check Compass and Teams for information about Inter-school sport opportunities.

Building Program

This week I have heard from our Architects and Building program managers that the extension to our A block Middle School building will soon go out to tender. This is exciting news. We desperately need new and more learning spaces to cater for our growth, so we are excited to see the building works proceed this year. There will be some adjustments to our rooming schedule across this year as the building works begin- but no changes to our curriculum program.

We have also been busy at work over the holidays upgrading other parts of the College in preparation for students returning. We have constructed a new Year 7 Locker area, extended the Year 8 Locker area, constructed more outdoor undercover seating areas, continue to refurbish our Theatre and Instrumental Music classrooms and have upgraded multiple air conditioners in learning spaces around the College. 

College Council Elections

Please see the College Council Elections page in this newsletter regarding the process for nominating for College Council. College Council plays a vital role in supporting the governance of the College, so please reach out to me or Stace Kerr (Business Manager) if you have any questions. 

PFA

Koonung is privileged to have a strong and supportive Parents and  Friends Association. Please see the links to the different PFA groups (see the PFA page in this newsletter) available and the types of activities they undertake to support our students with their learning and achievement. 

New Staff

I would like to welcome our new staff to the College. With over 140 staff in the College, we are excited to welcome the following staff to the Koonung community-

Sen Li- EAL, Info Technology

Tom Watts- English and French

Mai Yanagida- Japanese

Hannah Humphris- Visual Arts

Chris McKay- English, Head of Senior School

Chan Mi Chung- Maths and Science

Yolande Van Oosten- Woodwind

Ilona McColl- Learning Support

Casey Ding- Learning Support

Kaiyi Cao– Maths and Science

Bella McCann- First Aid/Admin

Fahina Fonua- English and Humanities

Carl Beer- Mathematics

We also welcome back the following staff members from periods of leave-

Georgina Russell- Visual Arts

Tory Nokes- English

Sarah Hobson- HPE, Psychology

Please see the New staff page in this newsletter for more information about new staff to the  College. 

Student Pick up and Drop off

At the start of the year, and particularly on hot days, we know that it is very busy around the College during school pick up time. 

I would like to remind all parents that student pick up cannot occur on the College grounds. As students exit the school on foot and on bikes, it is unsafe for parents to be driving through the College. 

I also ask all parents to consider not only student safety, but also their own safety as well as consideration for our neighbours during school pick up. We know that there are limited spots around the College available for pick up, so we do encourage for parents to organise spots further away for the College as pick up spots. We are seeing significant traffic on both Cairo Road and Box Hill Crescent for school pick up and request organising with your child spots further away from the gates of the College. This can include the side streets of Benbrook Ave, Arnott St and Tyrell Street on the western side of the College. 

Building Program

This week I have heard from our Architects and Building program managers that the extension to our A block Middle School building will go out to tender. This is exciting news. We desperately need new and more learning spaces to cater for our growth, so we are excited to see the building works proceed this year. There will be some adjustments to our rooming schedule across this year as the building works begin- but no changes to our curriculum program.

We have also been busy at work over the holidays upgrading other parts of the College in preparation for students returning. We have constructed a new Year 7 Locker area, extended the Year 8 Locker area, constructed more outdoor undercover seating areas, continue to refurbish our Theatre and Instrumental Music classrooms and have upgraded multiple air conditioners in learning spaces around the College. 

College tours

College tours for prospective Year 7 families in 2026 and beyond have begun. Please pass on to family friends' information about college tours. 

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. 

FACEBOOK

OFFICIAL COLLEGE ACCOUNT

https://www.facebook.com/koonungsecondarycollege/

INSTAGRAM

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 SOCIAL.

Andrew McNeil

Principal

andrew.mcneil@education.vic.gov.au