Principal Report  

Japanese Exchange Program 

This past week we welcomed 8 students from Matsudo City (Japan) as part of the Whitehorse Council/Matsudo City sister-city relationship. 

The sister city relationship between Whitehorse and Matsudo is one of the longest established sister city relationships running in Australia, so we are honoured to welcome the students to  Koonung, Whitehorse and indeed Australia. This relationship is vital in building cross cultural connections in an age when our world is becoming more globalised, so welcome and we look forward to learning together during the duration of their stay. 

Our sister school relationship with Matsudo Municipal High School and with all City of Matsudo high schools through this exchange not only deepens our language program here at the college, but also deepens the international friendship, goodwill, harmony and understanding that makes our world a better place. As we continue to progress in this century of globalism, the relationships made at a system level between Whitehorse Council and the City of Matsudo, and at the school level between Koonung and the schools in Matsudo facilitate the opportunities to build relationships at the level of our students, who are our future leaders- for it is these global yet local relationships will lead to the mutual benefit for all of us and our future generations. 

A big thank you to Ms Mia Poulton this opportunity for our students and the students from Matsudo, and to Whitehorse Mayor Cr Kirsten Langford and Cr Peter Allan for their support of the program.

Year 7 2026

Yesterday our Year 7s returned from their Orientation Camp to Camp Alexandria. Please see the middle Years News page in this newsletter for photos. 

A big thank you to all families, and our college staff, for the Year 7 Orientation Picnic held last week. We were lucky that the weather held out this year and it was fantastic to meet with families and staff in ana informal manner. Thanks to everyone who came along. 

Whole College Assembly

Last week we held our Term 1 whole College Assembly. Each term we traditionally run an assembly where the whole college gets together to celebrate student achievement. This year, due to our on-going growth, we have had to split our assemblies in order for everyone to fit in the gym. I would like to acknowledge our 2025 College Dux, Luca Brincat, who spoke at both assemblies and gave his Dux address to all year levels. Luca spoke about approaches to study at VCE as well as taking advantage of opportunities presented in earlier year levels. We also thank our local member for Box Hill, Mr Paul Hamer for presenting Leadership badges to our Middle Years Leaders and to our student performers and choir. 

Connections and Programs 

We know that student connections are vital in the success of students when at school. These connections include to their peers, their teachers and to programs and subjects in which they have passion, interest and talent. It is why our Positive Classrooms program at Year 7 and 8 and the Live Life program at Year 9 are integral parts of our curriculum as they are designed to build both connections, but also resilience and wellbeing. 

The College also operates a wide range of co-curricula and extra curricula programs designed to support connection, well-being, resilience and achievement. These programs include-

VHAP- Victorian High Ability Program- Extension in Literacy and Numeracy- organised by the Department of Education and run each term in the College.

MHAP- Maths High Achievers Program- extension program organised by the College and run every term.

Math Support- Math support is a targeted program to support students who would benefit from some extra support with their classroom learning. 

Quick Smart Literacy and Numeracy- Support program offered by the College. Run before school with small group and individual support provided by Quick Smart tutors.

ESV- Emerging Science Victoria- Semester length virtual Science program for Year 9 and 10 students conducted through John Monash Science School.

CHES- Centre for Higher Educational Studies. CHES run Year 10 Enrichment programs, VCE studies in Algorithmics and Higher Education Studies for early start into University. 

Instrumental Music- Small group and individual music lessons for students in instruments including; Woodwind, Brass, Strings, Percussion, Guitar and Voice.

Koonung Dance- We are pleased to again this year further extend our offering in the Performing Arts field to include a Dance program. Open to Middle School students, the Dance program has started well with Hip Hop classes occurring in the College Theatre after school on Mondays. Places are still available for Semester 2 in K-Pop and Contemporary, so please contact the College if interested.

Production- Every year the College runs a student led production. This year it is Mamma Mia. 

Lunch-time Clubs- A wide range of student interest clubs conducted during lunchtimes. This includes Robotics, Tabletop Gaming, Chess, Futsal, K-Pop dancing, Culture Club, Warhammer Club, etc. We know that there is great interest in Robotics, so please see Compass messaging regarding the Robotics club that runs on Monday afternoons from 3pm to 4pm. 

Study and Snack

From 3pm to 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons see the popular Study and Snack program run. This is a casual place for students to come after school to complete Homework, study and revise before heading home or onto other outside school commitments. Developing good study routines early in high school is important to school success, so please encourage your child to come along. Snacks provided. 

Monday Maths Club

Every Monday in the Library from 3pm-4pm. run by our Maths team, this is an opportunity to come along and reinforce the classroom learning with teachers from the College. Free and every Monday after school in the Library. 

Inter-school Sport- Koonung is proud of the achievements of its students in all School Sport Victoria (SSV) Round Robins and carnivals. Students in Year 7 and 8 can participate in one of Koonung's many sporting teams through their weekly Sport Ed class, with students in Years 9-12 able to sign up for sporting teams. Students are encouraged to check Compass and Teams for information about Inter-school sport opportunities.

College Council Elections

Please see the College Council Elections page in this newsletter regarding the process for nominating for College Council. College Council plays a vital role in supporting the governance of the College, so please reach out to me or Stace Kerr (Business Manager) if you have any questions. 

PFA

Koonung is privileged to have a strong and supportive Parents and  Friends Association. Please see the links to the different PFA groups (see the PFA page in this newsletter) available and the types of activities they undertake to support our students with their learning and achievement. 

Student Pick up and Drop off

At the start of the year, and particularly on hot days, we know that it is very busy around the College during school pick up time. 

I would like to remind all parents that student pick up cannot occur on the College grounds. As students exit the school on foot and on bikes, it is unsafe for parents to be driving through the College. 

I also ask all parents to consider not only student safety, but also their own safety as well as consideration for our neighbours during school pick up. We know that there are limited spots around the College available for pick up, so we do encourage for parents to organise spots further away for the College as pick up spots. We are seeing significant traffic on both Cairo Road and Box Hill Crescent for school pick up and request organising with your child spots further away from the gates of the College. This can include the side streets of Benbrook Ave, Arnott St and Tyrell Street on the western side of the College. 

College tours

With the Year 6 to 7 transition period for 2027 beginning in our partner primary schools, please be aware that we are currently running College tours on Tuesday and Friday mornings. Please see the College website for details and bookings. 

Attendance Matters

Why it’s important…..

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.

Students develop good habits by going to school every day – habits that are necessary to succeed after school, whether in the workplace or in further study.

Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including VCE, and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.

Each missed day is associated with falling behind in subject topics and assessment tasks, and lead to fewer subject choices and may impact on achievement in years 11 and 12 and post-school pathways.

Please reach out to us  if you are concerned about your child’s attendance and wellbeing. We are here to work in partnership with families to support student attendance and wellbeing.

Uniform updates for 2026

As you may be aware, in 2026 the Victorian Government have made changes to the uniform policies of all Victorian Government schools. The key change is that all trousers and shorts no longer are mandated to require a school logo. For Koonung, this means that the academic trousers for both boys and girls no longer require the College logo. Please note that the academic uniform requirement is still for 'college grey' trousers. For the PE and Sports uniform, similarly the logo is not required on either the sports shorts or on tracksuit pants. Please note that as per the Koonung logo guide, shorts must only be Navy in colour in stretch micro fibre (no other colours) and track suit pants must be cotton, Navy in colour only and preferably with a zipped pocket and no logo or branding of any type. 

This change has been introduced in order to lower the costs of back-to-school expenses. To support this, we recommend non-logo, navy blue tracksuit pants and microfibre shorts for the PE uniform from either the school range at either Kmart or Best and Less. Please also support the amazing work undertaken by the PFA in our on-site Second-hand uniform store. The store is open every Friday from 2pm-3.30pm.

A reminder that in 2025, the College, through a process of student voice, introduced two new uniform items- the new sports polo top and softshell jacket. Please note that all Year 7 students are required to only be using the new items (not wearing the older style pale blue PE top or spray jacket) and that these items will be unavailable for sale in the second-hand uniform shop from the end of Semester 1. As per our uniform policy, the older style polo and spray jacket will be phased out over the next two years. 

College social media channels 

The College utilises social media to provide quick updates, interesting events, and lots of photos to our community.  We have one official Facebook page and three Instagram pages for members of our community to follow. 

FACEBOOK

OFFICIAL COLLEGE ACCOUNT

https://www.facebook.com/koonungsecondarycollege/

INSTAGRAM

OFFICIAL COLLEGE ACCOUNT

https://www.instagram.com/koonung.secondary.college/

LIBRARY ACCOUNT 

https://www.instagram.com/ksclibrary/

STUDENT LEADERS ACCOUNT

https://www.instagram.com/koonung_secondary_college/

ALUMNI PROGRAM SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

The Koonung Secondary College alumni program utilises social media to stay connect with alumni. 

FOLLOW THE ALUMNI PROGRAM ON SOCIALS.

Andrew McNeil

Principal

andrew.mcneil@education.vic.gov.au