Principal Team Report

Principal Team Report

Dear MSC Community,

Welcome to our penultimate Links for 2025!

We hope everyone managed to enjoy the ‘long’ weekend, especially the fabulous weather on Saturday and Sunday (mind you, we needed the rain too!). Not everyone had the pleasure of four days off though:

· VCE exams continued on Monday;

· And staff had a professional learning day;

· While the P&CA and many volunteers sweated over a hot bbq at Bunnings Nunawading on Sunday.

Term 4 is a time of intense activity in the college, along with reflection, preparation, recognition, celebration and conclusion. We commenced the term by both recognising and celebrating the fabulous talents of our many and passionate Visual Arts students with our annual Art Show. The quality and range of works was outstanding (as usual), allowing us to reflect on the importance of having such diverse learning programs is for students to explore their many interests and talents. Congratulation to the Arts faculty on such a successful show. If you happened to have missed it this year, you will be able to enjoy the works on display in spaces around the college when you next visit.

Immediately following the Art Show has been a period of celebration and conclusion for our ‘Year 12 Class of 2025’. The school community took a moment to celebrate with our Year 12 students at a whole school assembly on their final day. We shared some great images and stories of their secondary school journey from the four school captains as well as recognising the handover of leadership to our incoming school captains. Congratulations to Caitlin Fankhauser, Lucy Gordon, Victoria Halpin and Teiva Levy on their selection as school captains for 2026 and we thank our graduating school captains, Abbey Dixon, Aya Elkhishin, Vanessa Nhoung and Angus Pappas for their dedication and leadership throughout the year. We wish the ‘Class of 2025’ all the best with their final exams and we look forward to again celebrating their success when they return for their alumni assembly and afternoon tea in the new year.

Exam mode continues for the college once the Year 12 examination period concludes as students across all year levels undertake end-of-year assessments and exams. The college has designed a scaffolded approach to exams that prepares them for Year 12 by developing skills in revision, exam preparation, sitting an exam in a formal environment and then reviewing the outcome with their teachers following the exam period. For students in Years 7 and 8 the focus is on Maths and English and in Year 9, other core subjects such as Science and Humanities are included. From Year 10, students undertake end-of-year exams in all subjects as this replicates the requirements of VCE studies. Exam revision has already commenced in many classes and all exams will appear as an event on Compass.

A gentle (further) reminder to all Year 7 -11 students that their formal exam assessments are coming up fast, so it’s time to start revising, check feedback from teachers, clarifying misunderstandings and getting their notes in order.

Practical strategies for managing exam stress | Exams & teens - Supporting Your Teen Through Exam Stress

In their final years of school, your teen may find it difficult to cope with the intense pressure that comes with exams—especially if they believe their future depends entirely on their results. While some level of stress can be positive and show that your teen cares about their performance, ongoing or unmanaged stress can affect their mental and physical health, increase the risk of burnout, and ultimately impact both their wellbeing and academic performance. It’s completely normal for teens to feel stressed during this time, but there are many ways you can help. This article (link below) by Reachout outlines practical strategies for managing exam stress together, including support ideas for:

· In the lead-up to exams

· During exams

· After exams

Practical strategies for managing exam stress | Exams & teens

P&CA Bunnings Nunawading BBQ

A huge effort from the team to raise $2,000 for the college. Elliot Gwynne, our bbq coordinator specialist, reports:

It was a massive day and we were all stuffed by the end. Real credit to all who volunteered their time. Especially Elisabeth Waycott and Yeng Ling. I was on the grill for around 6 hours with school parent Giacomo Nicoletti while they managed orders and volunteers. Believe me, we just kept up with the demand. The grill was full from 10:30am onwards. Epic team effort. Thanks to all Parent Committee members and parent and student volunteers.

Our thanks to all helpers on the day: Abhijith Thandengattil, Adam Kliska, Alyssa Koem, Becky Irani, Craig Gooding, Elisabeth Waycott, Jennifer Beechey, Lana Hung, Maggie Geals, Noah Albano, Rosie Lam, Rouzhan Irani, Sam Pang, Silvia Vogel, Snow Naw, Zavier Crivelli, Giacomo Nicoletti, Elliot Gwynne, Yeng Ling and Dave Woolley!

Cup Eve Monday – Staff learning

Last Monday, our teachers and relevant Education Support staff undertook two hours of professional learning relating to the new Victorian Teaching & Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM). The session was led by Leading Teachers Jacquie Brush and Daniella Taglieri. The remainder of the day was spent undertaking faculty planning.

German Exchange

This was (and will remain) another highlight of Term 4. Our German Exchange students flew out of Tullamarine on late on Friday 31 October – please refer to Laura Durham’s report later in this edition of Links.

School Performance Report

We were excited to receive our annual School Performance Report, which again reflects the hard work of our students and staff in achieving great outcomes across a range of factors. We are very pleased to inform the school community that we have again been rated as performing at a ‘High’ standard for Learning and Wellbeing factors.

This report provides just one of the many opportunities for the school staff to reflect on strengths and to consider and plan for improvements to be included in our 2026 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP). We will provide more information on the report once we have discussed it with staff, students (initially the SRC) and School Council. You can find the report on the college website School Data | Mullauna Secondary College and/or request it in hardcopy form for the Reception.

Update from IE Prins forum

On Wednesday, Jeff McMillin, Michael Bray, Jacquie Brush and I attended the Inner East Area Principals Forum, which gathers together all principals, Assistant Principals, and other key staff from all government schools in the Boroondara, Whitehorse, Manningham, Monash and Waverley local government areas. I had the pleasure of speaking as part of a panel on our improvement work with regard to stimulated learning and managing bullying behaviour.

Family financial contributions to our college – 2025 Contributions close today.

Our thanks to the many families that made contributions since our shout-out last week. We will keep our 2025 Contributions open until today, when we will commence the rollover into the 2026 contributions and payments (e.g. 2026 Instrumental Music fees). Year 7 2026 Camp Payments are already open.

Outstanding 2025 Payment Plans arranged with Laura Steel remain open and due.

HeadStart is coming - commences Monday 01 December

With the end of year looming, we wish to remind you of the critical dates to come, especially the expectations around full school attendance for our HeadStart program, which is the start of the 2026 school year i.e. it is NOT ‘just busy work’ etc. It is a chance for students to transition to the next year level, meet their new teachers and classmates, and prepare for the new schoolwork and expectations. The HeadStart program provides students and teachers the opportunity to undertake a week of classes with the 2026 timetable. This assists students to understand the expectations and requirements of each new subject and determine what preparation is required over the break to enable them to ‘hit the ground running’ in the new year. This is especially important for our senior students but relevant to all students.

Staffing and Leadership appointments

We would like to announce some key staffing decisions for the 2026 school year. New teaching staff joining us in 2026 include:

· Jessie Dennison – Mathematics

· Tina Ye – Science (Physics) & Mathematics

Michael Kyrkou is retiring from teaching after over 40 years of service to state education.

Harriet Smitheram and Naomi Jallais, both currently on leave, have indicated their intention to resign from the Department of Education and their positions at Mullauna to pursue new career pathways. We wish them well in their endeavours.

Also leaving us are:

Tanya Alderton – taking up a Teacher Librarian position at Mount Waverley SC

Ana Ruuska – taking up a Science Teacher position at Box Hill HS

In the Junior School Office, we will welcome Jordan Perree as Year 7 Level Coordinator. He joins the Junior School Year Level Coordination team of:

· Leading Teacher Head of Junior School – Flora Moraitis

· Year 8 – Anthony Lam

· Year 9 – Laura Chiappa

Working with Kim Watson (Leading Teacher – Head of Senior School) will be:

· Amanda Leahy – Year 10

· Eric Yeap – Year 11

· Alister Graham – Year 12

Our sub-school teams have embraced the ‘looping’ model, where the Year Level Coordinator will move with their cohort of students through the sub-school, building on their relationships with students and their families.

Jacquie Brush will continue in the Leading Teacher – Head of Learning & Teaching role, overseeing our team of Heads of Faculty and all the core business of learning that we undertake at the college. Together with Michael Bray, Jacquie will oversee the Learning & Teaching School Improvement Team.

Our full team of Heads of Faculty and Learning Leaders is:

· Tamsin Davidson – Leading Teacher Head of Literacy (Head of Faculty – English)

· Trevor Barkla – Leading Teacher Head of Numeracy (Head of Faculty – Mathematics)

· Gary Vear – Leading Teacher Head of Design & Digital Technology (Head of Faculty – IT and Food)

· Rebecca Holmes as Head of Faculty - The Visual Arts (Art, Media, VCD)

· Laura Durham as Head of Faculty - German

· Rebecca Kimm as Head of Faculty - Health & Physical Education

· Aaron Bear as Head of Faculty - Humanities

· Miriam Pepper as Head of Faculty - Science & Technology

· Peter Brodie as Head of Faculty – The Performing Arts (Music / Drama)

We will publish further Positions of Responsibility in the final Links for the year.

Year 7 welcome night

It was great to welcome our new Yr 7 students & their families. An overview was provided of the college, including hearing from the school captains, parent representatives and members of staff. Year 7 camp plans were presented as well as hearing from representatives from Primary School Wear (PSW) uniform and LWT laptop lease suppliers. We now look forward to welcoming back all new Yr 7s returning to Mullauna Secondary College for the statewide Orientation Day on Tuesday 09 December.

End of year program

Further detailed information regarding the end-of-year program will be published progressively through Compass and the weekly MSC Community Updates.

Final day of formal classes and compulsory school attendance for Senior School students (current Year 9, 10 and 11) is Friday 05 December. 

Final day of formal classes and compulsory school attendance for Junior School students (current Years 7 and 8) is Wednesday 10 December.  Year 8 students will attend an adventure camp from Monday 08 to Wednesday 10 December in preparation for their Skillz @ Mullauna program in 2026.

The optional Bounce excursion for students in Year 7 is on Wednesday 10 December – refer further details on Compass soon.

HATS HATS HATS ... and sunscreen

During Term Four, students are reminded to wear a hat during the majority of PE and Sport Education classes which are held outdoors. Students are encouraged to bring a hat to school and leave it in their locker to have available for these classes.

Students are also reminded to apply sunscreen at home before heading off to school. Sunscreen is available at school at Reception and in Sub-school offices.

Thunderstorm asthma

Grass pollen season, which typically runs from October to December each year in Victoria, brings an increase in asthma and hay fever symptoms. It also increases the risk of thunderstorm asthma. For people with asthma or hay fever, especially those who experience wheezing or coughing with their hay fever, thunderstorm asthma can be sudden, serious and even life threatening. Mullauna SC will implement a range of measures to keep our school community safe as the risk of thunderstorm asthma increases. Many of our staff are trained in asthma first aid. We will monitor the VicEmergency app to receive thunderstorm warnings and, where appropriate, encourage particular students who are at-risk to notify staff so that they can stay indoors when weather forecasts identify greater risk.

During the season, there are some things you can do to prepare and protect yourself and your family:

· If your child has ever had asthma, talk to your doctor about what you can do to help protect them from the risk of thunderstorm asthma this pollen season, including updating your asthma action plan. Taking an asthma preventer properly and regularly is key to preventing asthma, including thunderstorm asthma.

· If your child has hay fever, see your pharmacist or doctor for a hay fever treatment plan and check if you should have an asthma reliever puffer. These are available from a pharmacy without a prescription.

· If your child has hay fever and experiences wheezing and coughing, it is important to make sure they don’t also have asthma. Speak to your doctor about an asthma action plan.

· Where possible, avoid being outside during thunderstorms from October to December, especially during the wind gusts that come before the storm. Go inside and close your doors and windows. If you have your air conditioning on, turn it to ‘recirculate’.

Protect yourself and your children this pollen season – managing asthma and allergies matters.

For more information, speak to your doctor. You can also refer to the Better Health Channel website.

Upcoming events:

· Friday 28 November is a student-free day for our staff – it’s HeadStart Planning Day.

· Our HeadStart program (Monday 01 to Friday 05 December) is a week of compulsory school days that are critical for setting up all of our students for their next year of learning. Families are reminded to ensure their child is still at school for this week i.e. please don’t arrange early holidays to avoid educational disadvantage.

· Presentation Evening for Year 7-11 awards is during HeadStart week, on Thursday 04 November. Students receiving prizes and awards will be notified by email from Michael Bray.

We’ve hit the halfway mark for our students – counting the weeks until Christmas!

Harry Ruff, Jeff McMillin and Michael Bray

The MSC Principal Team