From the Principal

This past weekend, on Sunday 26 May 2024, we marked National Sorry Day. On this day each year we as a nation remember the grief, suffering and injustice experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, whom we now know as the Stolen Generations. 

The first National Sorry Day was held 26 years ago, commemorating one year after the Bringing them Home Report (1997)  was tabled in federal parliament. It’s a day of empathy and listening, confronting the trauma and loss that was created by government policies and actions – the reverberations of which are still felt acutely today – and of looking to redress the wrongs that persist. 

By recognising National Sorry Day and taking meaningful actions in our communities and in our work whenever we can, we make a path towards understanding and healing, and contribute to a more compassionate, equal and respectful Victoria. 

Importantly, National Sorry Day leads into National Reconciliation Week  (Monday 27 May to Monday 3 June 2024). This year’s theme, ‘Now more than ever’, reminds us that the shared fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will – and must – continue. 

It’s through education that children grow up with a fuller understanding of the different histories and cultures experienced by this country’s peoples.  

 There are many opportunities for each of us collectively and individually to take action and make change. We can prioritise cultural safety for students, colleagues and visitors, reinforce the voices of Koorie people, learn about local Koorie history and the impact of colonisation on Victoria’s First Peoples, support Koorie businesses, and call out racism wherever we see it.  

Have a wonderful week.  

Linda Stanton

Principal

Important Dates

Term 2

June

Tuesday 4th June - Year 12 TRAG Excursion

Thursday 6th to Friday 14th June - Year 10 and 11 Mid Year Exams

Monday 10th June - King's Birthday - Public Holiday

Monday 17th June - Semester 2 Begins

Tuesday 18th June - Year 11&12 GAT and report writing day - Students are not required at school

Thursday 20th to Friday 21st June - Year 12 Outdoor Ed Snow Camp

Friday 21st June - SMR Cross Country - Ballam Park

Tuesday 25th June - 2025 Course Information Evening - 5.00pm to 7.00pm

Thursday 27th June - Year 12 Fancy Dress Evening - Frankston Arts Centre

Friday 28th June - Last Day of Term 2 - 2.30pm Dismissal

Term 3

July

Monday 15th July - Term 3 Commences

Tuesday 16th July - Whole School Assembly

Monday 22nd to Friday 26th July - Grade 4 and 5 Science Fair Week

Friday 26th July to Tuesday 6th August - Osaka Exchange

Friday 26th July - Year 9 Course Counselling

August

Tuesday 30th July to Thursday 1st August - College Production

Friday 2nd August - Year 10 2024 into Year 11 2025 Course Counselling

Thursday 22nd August - Parent Teacher Interviews - At school and online

Wednesday 28th to Friday 30th August - Music Camp

September

Wednesday 11th September - Year 7 & 8 Showcase - Science, Humanities and Japanese

Thursday 12th September - 2025 Parent Information Evening - 5.00pm to 6.00pm

Friday 13th September - Staff Professional Development Day - Student Free

Monday 16th to Friday 20th September - Year 12 completing Units 3 and 4 - Trial Exams

Monday 16th to Thursday 19th September - Year 12 Revision Lectures

Friday 20th September - Last Day of Term 3 - 2.30pm Dismissal

Don't forget to look on compass for sport sign ups, excursions and any other information sent to students and parents. 

Below is a link to help guide you in your use of compass.

https://mornsc.vic.edu.au/for-parents/compass-parent-guide/

Middle School

Dear Parents and Carers,

I have really enjoyed observing the Year 8 Humanities classes. In this edition, we have included student work for you to view. 

On June 14 we have the Yale Acapella group visiting our school and they will provide a workshop for our year 7 students. Parents and grandparents of our year 7 students are invited to attend. You will receive in an invitation next week. 

Year 7 students enjoyed their assembly on Tuesday. It focused the events, the learning, the connections and of course the fantastic camp. 

Our Year 8 captains are finalising their Health and Wellbeing Day for the cohort; this includes a trip to the cinemas in Frankston.

Our Year 9 students are really engaged in the Connect classes and have participated in the interschool sports. They have PAT testing next week.

Wishing you a great week. 

Denise Leggett

Middle School Assistant Principal

Senior School

To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,

Welcome to winter. The days are getting shorter (☹) and we are just weeks away from the Winter solstice. All this means that the end of unit is approaching for Years 10, 11 and 12 students. Determinations on 'S' and 'N' results will be made shortly. To pass subjects, students need to have regularly completed work (in class for authentication purposes), completed all assessments by the due date and met the attendance requirements (90% VCE approved in VCE, 80% in Year 10). If students have outstanding medical certificates that can be handed in to Student Services, they need to hand them in over the next week or so. Students who are at risk of N in one or more subjects have been emailed by either the teacher or the year level team. While the vast majority of students will obtain 'S' results, receiving an ‘N’ result does not necessarily mean students won’t get their VCE (or automatic progression from Year 10) but it does show that learning habits (attending school, completing work in class and preparing for assessment) need to be improved.  

Exam Period (Years 10 & 11)

The Year 10 & 11 mid-year exam period will run from Thursday 6th June until Friday 14th June. Year 10 and 11 (VCE ATAR) students will only be required at school when they have a scheduled exam. The Year 10 & 11 Exam Navigator is now showing in the Compass newsfeed. Year 11 students will have a home study day on Wednesday the 5th June to simulate a mini SWOTVAC period in preparation for Year 12. Year 11 students are advised to spend the day studying at home. It is not considered a day off. 

Exam marks for Year 10 and 11 exams will be used to help determine pathways and opportunities in both Semester 2 and into 2025. Results will be reported in the semester reports released in week 11 of this term.

Year 11 VCE VM students will be taking part in mid-year evaluation presentation interviews during those same dates. Details will be distributed by the VCE-VM team in the coming days. As always, students attending school for exams or interviews will need to do so in full school uniform.

Year 12 GAT 

All students undertaking a Unit 3&4 subject in 2024 (including VCE-VM students) will be required to sit the General Achievement Test (GAT) on Tuesday 18th June. The GAT is a pen-and-paper test of general knowledge and skills taken by students in the course of completing their senior secondary studies.

The GAT plays an important role in the quality assurance of VCE assessments and also provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate they meet the Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Standards expected at a senior secondary level.

No special study is needed. Past study of subjects like English, Mathematics, Science and History prepares students for the GAT by building their general knowledge and skills in writing, numeracy and reasoning.

Students have been distributed a GAT information brochure during an assembly this week and Year 12 students will undertake GAT preparation sessions through the Connect and ROADMAP programs beginning next week. VCE VM students will prepare in their VM Literacy and Numeracy classes while Year 11 students studying a Year 12 subject will receive a GAT information session and brochure.

For more information about the GAT, please go to https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/general-achievement-test/Pages/index.aspx 

Senior School Activities

Good luck to the Senior School students in team Boultify as they represent Mornington Secondary College in the state finals for aerobics over the weekend. They’ve been training hard and will put on a great showing.  

Nick Evans

Senior School Assistant Principal

Road Relay

On Saturday May 25th,  four of our students took park in the All Schools Road Relay Championships at Princes Park, Carlton. This event organised by Athletics Victoria was a great opportunity for our students to show off their outstanding abilities and compete against private and independent schools from all over Melbourne. Each student ran 3km in the relay race around Princes Park. We were one of 53 teams in the under 16’s age group and overall finished in 10th place. Being one of the youngest teams in the race this is an outstanding result, and the boys should be very proud of this achievement.

Congratulations to Ethan Sheen (Year 9), Jackson Ablett (Year 8), Rafa Merchan (Year 8) and Bailey Barrett (Year 8) on such a great performance. Each of you did MSC extremely proud and we look forward to seeing how you go next year. 

Alex Mackenzie

Athletics Coach

Meet Our New Year 7 Team Leader and Coordinator

My name is Evangeline Romage, and this is my fifth year at Mornington Secondary College. This is my first year as Year 7 Leader, but I have been in coordination for the past 3 years. I enjoy working with the Year 7s, building relationships, and watching them become connected to our school. I am History and Literature trained and currently teach VCE English and Literacy.

I enjoy working at Mornington Secondary College and being part of such a rich and vibrant community. I am passionate about helping students achieve their best, and become successful, twenty first century learners ready for the outside world. 

In my spare time I enjoy playing netball, reading, and catching up on my favourite reality tv shows. 

My name is Kerstin Lindsay and I am the new Year 7 Coordinator. 

I currently teach Year 10 and 11 Psychology and Year 8 Food Technology. 

I am a local in our Mornington community, but I am originally from Germany and the UK. My two teenagers also attend Mornington Secondary College and we all enjoy netball, the beach and movies. 

I am excited to have joined the Year 7 team and look forward to our journey together. 

Mornington Secondary College Year 7 Camp Blog

As the buses rumbled to a stop at the gates of The Summit, a wave of excitement developed among the Year 7 students of Mornington Secondary College. What a massive 3 days planned full of excitement and nervousness that would push you physically and mentally. Day 1 started by meeting the six coaches who guided you through your camp experience. Logan, Aron, Spinks, Jakob, Adam and Cheyenne were your coaches. You also became familiar with our Five Keys; if we used them, it would make camp go from good to GREAT!

The Five Keys were:

1.    Have Fun

2.    Play All In

3.    Make Lots of Mistakes

4.    Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

5.    Don’t Go Home Wondering What If

Next is the goal-setting strategy that would help us maximise our activities. For when we got to an activity that made us nervous, it would help us face those fears to the best of our ability.

The three goals are as follows:

TARGET: Something you know you can do. (Not nervous at all)

STRETCH: Something you think you can do but are not 100% sure. (Nerves setting in)

SUPER-STRETCH:Something you think would be impossible for you to do. (Really nervous)

With no further ado, we played a big game of ‘50 Up’, split into our tribes and began our first activity. Your activities throughout your time here at The Summit included:

The Cave, moving through an epic small underground tunnel with no light to give hope and no sounds to comfort, challenging our fear of the unknown, and realising the difference between perception and reality. Great work Maddy!

Sky Bridge, traversing across the lake on nothing but a bridge, using every bit of concentration and focus on your technique, only to realise that our belief usually determines if we successfully make it across. Great work everyone on conquering the bridge and moving forward within the struggle! Nice work Lucas, made it look easy!

Highwire, scaling a tree to then balance across a thin wire with your partner and come down together like a boss.

Leap of Faith, challenging our ability to trust not only ourselves but the entire process, and to take a leap into the unknown regardless of what was holding us back.

Snowy River challenge, the ultimate test of teamwork and support involving a race through five obstacles as fast as possible to beat the opposing teams time.

Laser Tag, dodging and weaving through our laser war zone striving to eliminate the opposition. Great laser dodging skills Levi!

Giant Swing, testing what it will take to let go of our fear and trust the process, letting go of “what if…”.

After completing your first activity you all had the opportunity to create a tribe flag. A flag that would encompass your tribes values and presence. Then you created a tribe chant to show the other tribes what you were made of!

Day 2 had arrived! Start the morning with Spinks talking to us about how you want our day to go, and making a deliberate choice. Spinks asked us about who we wanted to be for the day (supportive, brave, funny, leaders) and to make a choice before we got down into the park. “You don’t attract what you want, you attract what you are”.

Next, we continued with four more activities for the morning. What an action-packed morning we had planned for you. However, it wasn’t over yet! After a delicious lunch to fuel us for the afternoon, we finished the day with one last activity. Finally, we were about to begin the epic journey that would push you physically and mentally. The moment we had only heard rumours about it, it was time for the Monster Course! Running in our teams through a mud run obstacle course linked together by hands to achieve the best time and a closer connection to our peers and teammates. After the first lap, we followed it up with a surprise, we told you we would do it twice! What a sight to see. Pushing ourselves to limits we hadn’t reached before. Congratulations to all those who truly pushed through and demonstrated to themselves a new level of resilience.

Day 3 was already on the horizon! We began with some breakfast followed by a gratitude session with Adam. This encouraged us to use gratitude as a tool to instantly FEEL joy and happiness when reflecting on the often unappreciated things we have in life. “Gratitude affects your attitude and in turn, affects your altitude”. We then commence our last two activities. What an epic way to finish off an incredible camp. Last but not least, each team voted for somebody in your group who best demonstrated our Five Keys. Congrats to your teams Values winners, you are all epic individuals. Lastly, we all got the chance to witness our WW2 army tank go for a lap around our mud track. However, your well-deserving Values winners got to have a first-class seat inside the tank as it went to work!

Thank you Mornington Secondary College for playing all in and rocking it throughout camp.

Keep Unleashing Your Greatness!

Biggest Morning Tea

What a great day – we raised over $300 for the Cancer Council at the Mornington Secondary College Biggest Morning Tea – held at lunchtime!

The Biggest Morning Tea was run by our Year 11 Vocational Major students as part of the Personal Development subject. They helped prepare the food including making sausage rolls, vegie scrolls and some very delicious scones. 

At the function the students also ran a variety of activities including ‘Tea-rivia’, a game of ‘cups and saucers’, supervised the guessing of the lolly jar, encouraged staff to guess how many teacups and teapots were hidden in the picture and ‘the lucky teapot’ where staff had to throw gold coins into a teapot.

Viliame Waqakalou began the function by welcoming all the staff with an Acknowledgement of Country. Staff then mingled, enjoying the food and playing the different games on offer.

Some of the reflections from the students included:

“I really enjoyed cooking with my friends”.

“I had fun hosting the teapot game and giving instructions to the teachers to follow”.

“I liked participating in the activities because of the reason behind doing the Biggest Morning Tea and supporting the Cancer Council”.

“I enjoyed eating the food we made”.

The only suggestions for how to improve running the event was to make more food for the students to eat!

A big thank you to the Food Technology staff, including Heidi Bremner, for allowing us to use the kitchen and organising the food, the recipes and cleaning up. It was also great to see Mrs Stanton help the class who were making scones.

Thank you to Rebecca Slater for making contact with the Cancer Council and doing all of the ‘behind the scenes’ organisation including creating great gift boxes for the staff who won the different activities.

It was a great day had by all and we are really proud that we were able to raise over $300 for the Cancer Council and the great work they do.

Dianne Parkinson

VM Personal Development Teacher

Year 12 Legal Studies Excursion to Supreme Court Melbourne

On Tuesday this week Miss Milner and myself took our Year 12 students to Melbourne to experience the court in action.  We arrived to many cameras and reporters and once through security we were extremely lucky to get into the public viewing gallery to see a high profile murder trial.

It was incredible to see what the court room was actually like for real with the many legal professionals in action and the jury being brought in.   We listened to expert testimony from a firearms specialist for the prosecution, but then were able to witness him being cross examined by the defence barrister, it was just like you see on the television only more exciting being there in person.

We stayed longer than we intended because the students and the teachers were both gripped by the trial and the displays of evidence but the morning session ended at 1pm for lunch. Luckily for Miss Milner and myself we were able to return the next day with the other legal studies class to find out more.

It was an amazing day enjoyed by all, with memories that I am sure will not be forgotten.

Sian Jones 

Legal Studies Teacher

Tabloid Sports

Thank you Osborne Primary for coming to Mornington Secondary College to take part in our primary school Tabloid Sports.  It was fun having all of you here.

School Photos                      

Our annual school photos have been taken and are now ready to order. 

Arthur Reed Photos uses an online ordering system where you can view your photos prior to ordering. 

On or near photo day all students received a flyer which includes a code unique to them. You will require this 2024 code to register online and view your photos.  

If you have already registered, you will receive an email or SMS from Arthur Reed Photos with a link to view your photos.  If you have not yet registered, please go to order.arphotos.com.au and enter your code to complete your order.  

If you have misplaced your registration code, please contact the Arthur Reed Photos Customer Service Team directly on 5243 4390 (option 1) or customerservice@arphotos.com.au  

Please note that you will need to register online with your 2024 photo code to gain access to this year’s images.  

All photo packages will be sent directly to your nominated address, so please ensure that you enter the correct details and nominated shipping address upon checkout.  If you require any assistance ordering your photos, please contact Arthur Reed Photos directly on 5243 4390 (option 1) or email customerservice@arphotos.com.au 

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