Senior School

Equality Symposium Excursion

On Tuesday 26th August, members of the Senior School ‘Delta Project’, along with staff members Lauren Old and Amy Walker, attended the 2025 Gender and Sexuality Interschool Student Symposium hosted by Carey Baptist Grammar School. 

The key theme of this year’s symposium was “How far to equality?” 130 students from across 20 schools met together to engage in student-led workshops to explore this theme and have important conversations about how schools can continue to develop to become more inclusive and safe spaces for everyone. 

Students from Overnewton also presented a workshop with the assistance of Old Collegian, Mitch Sprague (Founder of the Australian Council for Student Voice), exploring what meaningful allyship looks like and how students can work together to build stronger networks of support and influence within their schools. The students were great facilitators of their workshop and had participants engaged in meaningful conversations and shared experiences.

The following are some of the reflections from students who attended the day:

“It was great to see how many people in the community care so much. The workshops were really informative, the staff were really kind, and it was great to meet and connect with so many like-minded people” (Tillie and Caitlin, Year 11).

“As someone who is an ally, I loved being able to meet so many new people and the workshops I attended really helped me to be more open minded about different topics” (Hamish, Year 11).

“The symposium gave me an incredible opportunity to learn, ask questions, meet new people, make new friends and share my own thoughts, findings and experiences on striving for equality at school and what I’ve learnt from the workshops hosted by other schools, inspiring new ideas to implement into our own school to improve equality across the college” (Fiona, Year 11).

“By attending the pride symposium, I was able to listen to how other schools are implementing positive impacts and the effects it creates. This discussion allowed me to come up with new ideas to help improve Overnewton’s community and culture” (Katia, Year 11).

School Attendance & Success

Article by Lisa Haranas - Head of Learning Senior School 

Is your child’s attendance above 95%? One of the largest factors for success is student punctuality and attendance. 

Lateness and absence from school: 

• make it difficult to catch up on missed work, 

• create gaps in a student’s knowledge and learning progress, 

• make it difficult for teachers to monitor student progress and achievement, 

• make it difficult for teachers to provide students the help they need to catch up 

On a child’s Compass dashboard, there are two values related to attendance: 

• School – the percentage of time they have attended.  

• Accounted for – the percentage of absences that have an attendance note.  

It is worth noting that whilst an attendance note provides the College an explanation for the absence, this does not always mean the absence is authorised. 

Absences can be classified as: 

1. Unexpected, authorised absence e.g. illness, bereavement. 

2. Authorised absence e.g. School-based activity (incursion, excursion, camp) 

3. Unauthorised absence e.g. family holiday 

The aim is that school attendance should be higher than 95%. Percentages can sometimes be misleading. While some might perceive an attendance rate of 95% to be quite good, when we look at the number of actual lessons/periods of learning lost, the impact can be significant, as outlined below: 

Lateness can also have a significant impact on student learning and engagement. If a child does not arrive to their Period 1 class until 9am, they have missed 20 minutes of learning. In one week, this accounts for over 1.5 hours of class time. In Term 3 alone, this would equate to 12 hours! 

We must work together to ensure your child attends regularly. Parents/guardians are encouraged to make every effort to get their child to school, on time, every day. If there are issues to do with your child’s attendance that you think we should be aware of please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s Mentor, Year Level Leader or other member of the Senior School Leadership Team.  

Musicians Excel 

Article by Carolyn Hernandez - Head of Performing Arts

It has been a huge week for students studying Unit 4 VCE Music. 

On Monday the concert entitled, “VCE Stars” kicked off the Overnewton Festival of Music. The students performed 5 minutes of the music that will contribute to their subject assessment.  

The range of music was broad. In the VCE subject, Music Inquiry, students select an area of music to investigate. There was music by Debussy performed on piano, Bach on the violin, Megadeath on drumkit and Jazz vocals accompanied by the Jazz Band.  

Part of the folio requirement is composition. Several students chose to perform their own work – pieces that showed the influences of the music that they were studying. It was impressive. 

Then, on Friday night and throughout Saturday, the performance pieces for the folio were filmed. The stage was transformed into a recording studio equipped with state-of-the-art technology, ensuring Overnewton students could present their work in the best possible way. 

We congratulate our VCE students and look forward to hearing more from them at upcoming Festival of Music concerts, at Presentation Night and at end of year events. 

Curie House Synergy Campaign

Article by Isabella W

As part of our 2025 Synergy Campaign, Curie house is collecting donations for the Red Shield appeal, which helps to fund the Salvation Army’s efforts to deliver vital community programs, social services, and help people in need. 

While their main focus is monetary donations, the Salvo’s also accept donations of goods like clothing and household items. In Week 6, we ask families to please support Curie house and the Red Shield Appeal in helping those in need, by bringing donations such as: 

• Gold coin donations 

• Clothing 

• Non-perishable food 

• Toiletries 

• Blankets  

• Books  

   

These can be dropped off to the Senior School Reception. There will be opportunities to donate money at pick up and drop off throughout car parks during the week.  

Each fortnight, the College Careers Team publishes a newsletter providing students and parents with the most up-to-date career information, events and opportunities.  

Please access via the following link.