Junior School News

Assistant Principal Report (Junior School)

How quickly the school year is going as we head into the mid year holiday break! It has been a busy finish to Term 2, with a wide range of school events and student learning opportunities across the Junior School. Our 7-9 students have just completed their final Assessment Tasks for Semester 1, with the results to be published on compass shortly, along with their Semester 1 2024 school report. 

We encourage all families to please take the time to discuss their child’s school report with them. To highlight their achievements, reflect on their learning and develop goals for the reminder of year. Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences will also be held early in Term 3. We strongly encourage all families to make an appointment with their child’s teacher to get feedback on their progress, as well as attitudes towards learning, so we can continue working collaboratively in achieving positive outcomes for our students and help them maximise their potential as learners. 

Well done to all our students for your efforts and endeavours in recent weeks. Our library and homework clubs have been busier than usual with students putting in the extra time to achieve their personal best. I’m sure your results and feedback will reflect the efforts you put into your education.

Outside of the classroom our students have had plenty of opportunities to shine in extra curricular activities such as sport, arts and music. I had the pleasure of attending the Performing Arts Showcase last week and what a fantastic night it was in bringing the school community together and highlighting the wide range of talents our students have in music, dance, singing and performing.

Many of our students were getting out of their comfort zone for the first time by performing on stage, particularly our Year 7’s, whom most of have only started learning an instrument this year. Once again, all students performed to a high standard and we are all very proud of you here at Lyndale Secondary College. May I also thank the family and friends who attended the showcase, it is great to get such strong support from our community.

I was also very fortunate to attend a youth leadership forum with 18 of our Year 9 students. The event, run by City of Dandenong for all Secondary School’s within the Council, focus on giving young people a voice on topics and issues relevant to our young people within the community. It was so pleasing to see the pride, respect, teamwork and leadership skills our students demonstrated throughout the conference in working with students from other schools and tackling these topics. Well done to those students who attended and we look forward to you all continuing to demonstrate those skills at Lyndale and the wider school community.

One of the skills that we are trying to enhance within our Junior cohort is resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back quickly when something doesn’t go right. We find at times, students are quick to blame others and not take responsibility for their actions. Sometimes, we see them leave out important facts out when recounting an incident or problem to make others look bad and themselves look better. 

It is really important that we listen, but also understand that there are two sides to a story. At Lyndale SC, we teach resilience, as well as respect and responsibility, through our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program during homegroup on a Tuesday. Below is a link to building resilience by psychologist Andrew Fuller. It is a worthwhile read for parents and has many strategies you can use to build your child’s resilience skills. 

We would like to wish Year 9 Coordinator Mr Nettleingham all the best on his long service leave next term. Taking his place to work with Ms Megroz next term will be the wonderful Ms Belevski.

Well done again Years 7-9 students on a fantastic semester of learning and we look forward to you all continuing to show respect, responsibility and resilience at Lyndale to maintain a strong learning environment. We hope you have a safe and enjoyable break with your family and friends. See you back at Lyndale on Tuesday the 16th of July.

Kind Regards,

Luke Wilson

Assistant Principal (Junior School)

Year 9 Youth Forum

On Thursday 13th June, fourteen year 9 students had the opportunity to attend the City of Dandenong Youth Forum at the Springvale town hall. This was attended by several schools. Here they got to hear presentations on legal issues regarding youth, such as dealing with the police, drug and alcohol effects and what happens in regard to law enforcement and legal rights and responsibilities. This was capped off with a morning tea, a DJ and a photo booth. Our year 9 students actively participated in the activities and displayed the school values.

Mr. Adam Nettleingham and Ms. Emelia Megroz, Year 9 Co-ordinators.