Principal Team Report

Dear MC Community,

Welcome to our final edition of Links for the year, a celebration of our achievements and the year that was 2023!

At a recent Department of Education function, the Hon. Ben Carroll MP, Minister for Education, reminded us that: 'Education is the most powerful tool we can use to change lives and the single most important investment we can make in our future.' We hope that the Mullauna community concurs. It is certainly a factor in my choice to become a teacher and now a principal in the state education system.

My sincere thanks to our staff, both education support and teaching, school council and the new Parent & Community Association for their efforts over this year in supporting the development of our students. Particular thanks and recognition must go to our Year 12 teachers for their work with our senior cohort in their final year of schooling, and also to the many teams of teacher leaders who guide the work of our staff: the Leadership Team, the two School Improvement Teams, the Learning & Teaching Team (Heads of Faculty), the Junior and Senior Sub-school Teams, and the Wellbeing Team.

This final full week of school has been as busy as ever, with new staff induction on Monday, the Year 6-7 Orientation Day on Tuesday, and all staff undertaking an extensive program of:

Critical reflection and planning in faculty and PLC meetings;
Completion of professional conversations in the Performance & Development review cycle for all staff;
VCE and other student learning data analysis in order to review our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan targets and develop the new ones for next year;
Professional learning activities like OH&S, First Aid, CPR and Anaphylaxis training.

Nathan Hughes led a team of mentors and Heads of Faculty in assisting four staff to complete their VIT panels for full registration as Victorian teachers – our congratulations to Jeremey Chan, Gloria Cheung, Alister Graham and Harriet Smitheram for successfully meeting the requirements.

My thanks to all staff for their active participation in these key college activities.

Student Preparation for 2024

Before we celebrate our 2023 achievements, a reminder to students to prepare themselves thoroughly for 2023 by:

Firstly, having a relaxing break – enjoy your well-earned summer holiday – stay safe and well!
Complete any tasks set for the holidays, especially for VCE – a reminder that work not submitted at your first class will lead to an account ability session on the first Wednesday afternoon.
Planning for our first year with the new Year 12 VCE VM – after a successful launch of the year 11 class this year;
Read – your set texts and also for enjoyment!
And in the week before school starts again:
- Ensure your uniform, books and laptop are ready to go for your first day back.
- Look over your notes from this year to refresh your 2023 learning.

As a college, we are preparing our 2024 Annual Implementation Plan with new improvement targets, to ensure continued success for all of our learners at Mullauna, both student and staff!

Final preparations for the opening of the new F Block (and the demolition of the old) are being made, while also working busily on the designs for the new STEM and Food Technology buildings.

Enrolments are strong, with five classes of Year 7s and a total student cohort now over 600 for the first time in many years. This will include 30 International Students on site by the end of the school year.

And there are promising noises coming from Canberra about increased funding to state schools (I remain optimistic!).

The end of 2023

Two absolute highlights of the past two weeks were the Presentation Evening last Thursday Evening, and of course the Year 12 results on Monday. Please refer to the two dedicated pages for further details and photos.

Presentation Night allowed us to recognise students in in many categories, including academic achievement, academic merit (for sustained, genuine effort), music and sport, and leadership.

More VCE success!

In a further highlight for the VCE team (and especially his teacher, Jacqui Brush), Year 11 student Ryan Harrison has been selected for VCE Top Screen in 2024. His Year 12 Media short film ‘The Nitpicker’ will be included in a program alongside another 14 of the best short films produced by VCE Media students across Victoria – 330 submissions were received! It will be screened at ACMI from mid-March to early May 2024. His film demonstrated a thorough understanding of the production process, as well as technical excellence in filmmaking, including the composition and creation of an original accompanying soundtrack. Ryan is to be congratulated for all of his hard work throughout Media in 2023, as are his lead actors, George Bampas and Rupert Sutherland.

Staff Farewells

Next Wednesday, we will formally farewell the following staff: Ben Eaves, Josi Schneider, Natalie Kearney, Simon van der Westhuizen, Darren Lam, Sally Newstead, Corinne Barr, Penny Nevill, John Powson, Sally Ann Venables and Neil Burke.

We thank them for their service to Mullauna College and wish them all the best for their next steps.

Key reminders for 2024 – repeated from last week’s Newsfeed

1. Uniform and Dress Code

A reminder please of the significant changes for 2024. Copies of the 2024 Uniform Brochure and the Student Dress Code policy will be uploaded to a separate Compass newsfeed next week. Some key points:

Girls pants – must be navy blue in colour, straight leg – not black .
Shoes – must be plain black leather shoes or runners – no tags etc. / not skate shoes.
Senior School students (Years 10-12) must be in full academic uniform every day – students must bring PE uniform as required and get changed.

2. Interschool Sport Charge

Due to a significant increase in transport costs, from the start of 2024 all interschool sporting events will have a $20 charge for participants, payable through Compass when providing consent.

3. Reminder of the Education department policy on Mobile Phones, ear buds etc.

A reminder that the Department of Education has in place a mobile phone ban that requires students who bring mobiles phones to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours.

The Department has reminded all schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced from the start of the 2024 school year. The ban applies equally to all government schools right across the state. This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions.

By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-toface, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause.

We ask for the support of all our families, staff and students in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school. This policy also includes wireless earphones/earbuds.

Emergencies: In the event of an emergency or if you need to immediately contact your child, we ask that families contact the school office who will pass on a message as required.

School mobile phone policy: A copy of our school’s mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available on the college website.

4. Student medical conditions and medication – please organise these over the break We work hard to maintain up-to-date action plans, health support plans and response procedures for all of our students with chronic health conditions. We ask that all families ensure that up-to-date medications and health details are provided to the school at the start of the next school year.

5. Expectations

Starting a new year of learning in new classes and with new bell times, means stepping up and meeting new expectations. In the last two Friday Newsfeeds, we highlighted three new policies and attached them to ensure all families are fully informed of them.

Student Expectations & Agency – spells out our key expectations for our students, parents and staff to maximise student learning growth.

Home Learning – clarifies expectations and spells out how parents can play their critical part in supporting student learning.

Student Dress Code – spells out our revised expectations for student uniform. A great way to reduce student stressors is to ensure they are following the dress code.

We ask that parents read and discuss the new policies with their children, and help their children to get ready for school next year by ensuring they:

Understand the new policies, especially the Student Expectations & Agency policy – we will achieve much better outcomes if every child is ‘ready for learning’ every day;
Complete any set homework tasks – especially VCE students;
Undertake revision to refresh their knowledge and understanding prior to the new school year commencing;
Have all the necessary books and class materials;
Have and wear the correct uniform items in a manner befitting our college and community.

And finally, we take this opportunity to thank our students for their engagement and hard work, our parent community for your support, and to wish you all a very merry Christmas and joyous festive season, a safe and relaxing summer, and a great start to the new year!

Harry Ruff, Jeff McMillin and Michael Bray

The MC Principal Team

Coming key dates:

Wednesday 20th December – college closes for the summer break

2024

Wednesday 24th January - General Office / Reception re-opens

Friday 26th January – Australia Day public holiday

Monday 29th January 2024 – Teaching staff recommence

Tuesday 30th January 2024 – Year 7 & Senior School students (Years 10, 11 and 12) recommence

Wednesday 31st January 2024 – Years 8 & 9 recommence

Wednesday 7th February – Parent & Community Association meeting

Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th February – Yr 12 Camp at Iluka Retreat & Camp

Thursday 8th & Friday 9th February – Yr 7 Camp at Toolangi

Thursday 15 February – School photos

Thursday 15 February – Yr 7 BBQ & Instrumental Music Recruitment Night, 6pm start

2024 Term Dates

Term 1 - 29 January to 28 March

Term 2 – 15 April to 28 June

Term 3 – 15 July to 20 September

Term 4 – 7 October to 20 December

Bell Times & School Terms

December 2023

Mullauna College Bell Times - 2024

School Term Dates - Department of Education and Training