From the Principal
This week I had the pleasure of joining our students and parents at the Yr 7 showcase. The students were very excited to share and explain their work to their families and staff. It was wonderful to listen to the many students who had worked with mums and dads on developing artefacts for their Science or Humanities projects.
Last night we welcomed our 2025 Year 7 families to our community. I look forward to forming relationships with our families as it is so important we work together to support our young people.
This week all schools received a memo asking for it to be shared with our school community.
Whooping cough
Whooping cough cases are continuing to increase across Victoria, particularly among school-aged children.
Whooping cough is a very contagious infection, mostly spread through coughing or sneezing. Symptoms include:
- blocked or runny nose
- tiredness
- mild fever
- severe bouts of coughing, often followed by a ‘whooping’ sound on breathing.
Whooping cough can lead to life threatening infections in babies.
If your child is unwell, they should not attend school. Please see a doctor if you or your child develops whooping cough symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the spread of the infection.
Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school.
To reduce the spread of infection and to protect others within the school community, students diagnosed with whooping cough are recommended not to attend school for 21 days after their cough was first present, or until they have taken a full course of antibiotics prescribed by a doctor (usually a 5-day course).
If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.
I hope we can work together to protect the whole school community by following the recommended advice.
More information
For more information about whooping cough, refer to Whooping cough on the Better Health Channel.
Vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of whooping cough. The Department of Health recommends staying up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. A free booster dose of the pertussis vaccine is covered under the national immunisation program for students aged 12 to 13. If you are unsure about your child’s vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor’.
I really appreciate your support in keeping our students safe and well.
Have a wonderful week.
Linda Stanton
Principal
Important Dates
Term 3
September
Friday 13th September - Year 12 SWOTVAC - No classes for Year 12 students
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
Term 4
October
Friday 11th October - Year 11 Formal - Frankston Art Centre
Tuesday 15th October - Year 10 Outdoor and Environmental Studies Phillip Island Surf Excursion
Tuesday 22nd October - Final day for Year 12 students
Tuesday 22nd October - Whole School Assembly to farewell our Year 12 students
Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st October - Year 10 Outdoor and Environmental Studies Otways Camp
November
Monday 4th November - Staff Professional Development Day - Student free
Tuesday 5th November - Melbourne Cup - Public Holiday
Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th November - Year 10 Outdoor and Environmental Studies Otways hike
Monday 11th November - Remembrance Day commemorations - 10.45am
Wednesday 13th November - Year 11 SWOTVAC - No classes for Year 11 students
Thursday 14th November - Final presentations for Year 11 VM students
Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th November - Final assessment presentations for Year 11 VM students
Tuesday 19th November - Year 7 celebration of first year of secondary school - Portfolio showcase afternoon
Thursday 21st November - Year 9 Graduation and social - Frankston Arts Centre
Friday 22nd November - Professional Practice Day for all teachers - Student free
Monday 25th November - Fast Forward commences - students transition into their 2025 year level and classes
December
Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th December - Japanese visitors from Nara
Friday 6th December - Year 11 2025 students final day
Tuesday 10th December - Grade 6 Orientation Day for students joining MSC in 2025
Monday 16th December - Presentation Evening - New Peninsula Baptist Church - 6.30pm
Tuesday 17th to Thursday 19th December - 3 day activity program
Friday 20th December - Last day of Term 4
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,
Yesterday we held our Year 7 2025 Parent Information evening. It is amazing to think that we are already preparing transition for Grade 6 students to commence secondary college with us.
Wednesday evening, we held our Year 7 showcase. The students were so excited and set up their stations with work from Humanities, Science and LOTE Japanese. We loved having the parents and families attend to see the students work which included models of the Colosseum, swords, tridents, helmets as well as self-designed web pages and dioramas of animal habitats.
Thank you to all the parents who have voted for the students work. We will announce the winners next week.
Wednesday evening, the Rotary Club of Mornington held an event for the school children that they support in the local community. Sian Jones Year 9 Leader attended the event as one of our Year 9 students presented to the audience. Madison Lillecrapp of Year 9 spoke about her experience as the recipient of the Rotary club award to attend RMIT during the school holidays and learn about science and courses.
She also had the opportunity to engage in experiments in engineering working in small groups. Madison really enjoyed learning from the engineers about crash test dummies in cars and the engineering concepts and processes.
Logan Ardley Year 9 also attended RMIT and reported the following:
“During the holiday, I and other students were invited to visit RMIT and participate in a set of activities to showcase the experience that RMIT has to offer. We were divided into groups and assigned different activities. Some of these activities included coding robotic cars, interacting with robots, building miniature rockets, examining certain medicines and their effects on our bodies, as well as learning about the use of different native Australian plants to create oils. These activities enhanced our understanding of their respective subjects and showed us what we could potentially do at RMIT in the future. I am grateful for being invited, and I had a wonderful time.”
Thank you so much to The Rotary Club of Mornington for supporting our students in this venture.
Wishing our families a wonderful week
Denise Leggett
Middle School Assistant Principal
Senior School
To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,
The final week of normal classes in term 3 for our Year 12 ATAR students has finished. There have been many stressed and tired students as they’ve negotiated the final SACs for each subject. Now begins the final part of their secondary schooling, the exam preparation. Trial exams start next week and each student’s individual timetable is visible on Compass. Year 12 ATAR students only need to attend when they have an exam, however are welcome to come and study in the Year 12 study area at any time during the week.
Year 11 Uniform focus
As communicated by the Year 11 team, there will be a strong focus on ensuring our students look like they belong to our community. That means wearing full school uniform every day. Obviously there are sometimes unforeseen circumstances that may arise and these need reasons are to be written in a note, signed and presented to a coordinator before school. Substituted items need to be as close as possible to the school uniform (i.e. we don’t have hooded items, so a hooded jumper is never acceptable). We have many items of clothing that can be borrowed on a day as well (shirts, jumpers, shorts, pants). Students need to see student services for this option.
We understand that at times issues arise that may result in students wearing incorrect uniform, however, if they have a note from home, we can issue a uniform pass until the matter is fixed. If there are no issues with access to uniform, then it’s concerning that one of the first decisions a student makes in the morning is to deliberately seek to not be part of the school community by dressing differently. It is often apparent that students with the most blatant uniform issues are also those with the lower academic outcomes, poorer attendance and sometimes behavioural problems. So while on the surface, it may be argued that what you wear doesn’t impact how you learn, the data doesn’t really support that notion. A sense of connectedness and belonging does have a positive impact on that learning. If students look and feel as though they belong, they’ll be more likely to achieve their best results.
The government and MSC will be providing more information on the school saving bonus (a one-off $400 payment which can be used on uniform, textbooks and school activities) in the coming weeks. This will be useful in removing a potential barrier to wearing correct uniform.
Year 12 VCE VM completion date
As I stated last week, our VCE VM students will have a final presentation to make to a panel in the first 2 weeks of term 4 to finalise their VCE VM certificate. Information was provided to students and families last week (or early this week – I was a bit tardy in signing the document) which outlines the process. This provides our VM students and teachers the opportunity to reflect on their successes in the program and helps the VM teachers plan to improve the VM programs for 2025 and beyond. I look forward to sitting in on some of the presentations.
Term 3 key dates for Senior School
Thurs 12 September -Final Day of Year 12 coursework prior to trial exams (Year 12 VCE ATAR students)
Fri 13th September – SWOTVAC Day (Yr 12 VCE ATAR students only)
16-20th September – Trial exam period for Year 12 classes
September 30 – Timely VTAC applications close (Year 12 students only)
Nick Evans
Senior School Assistant Principal
Do we really need to worry about what our kids are doing online?
The age at which students should be using social media has really hit the press this week and while the 30 second sound bite makes things seem really simple to solve the reality is that this is a complex problem and one which as parents and educators we need to be fully engaged with. As a school we are always looking at ways to support our students, this topic gets a run in health classes as well as guest speakers and activities run through connect.
We recently received our results from the student survey completed in term 2 and I think there is some sobering statistics in there for all of us. Students were asked about social media and the effects on them, access to these things is reasonably heavily blocked at school, so a large proportion of these things are happening on their mobile devices and out of school.
Questions:
- In the last 30 days has anyone sent you something on the internet that made you upset or uncomfortable? 35% agreement (282 students agreed with this statement)
- In the last 30 days have you been afraid to go on the internet? 17% agreement (137 students agreed with this statement)
- In the last 30 days has anyone posted anything about you online that you didn’t want others to see? 29% Agreement (233 students agreed with this statement)
We like to think that our children are safe and responsible users of technology and that they would let you/us know if things were not ok. But these numbers tell us a different story.
Can I strongly encourage all families to spend some time talking with their kids about their online activities and to make sure that they can bring things to you to get help and support.
The “think you know” website has some excellent resources for parents and carers, can I encourage you to have a look and get “in the know”
https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources-tab/parents-and-carers
Kind regards,
Mike Parker
Assistant Principal
Year 9 Excursion to the Docklands
On Friday 6th September we had a Year 9 Excursion to Docklands. Students chose from two options either going ice skating or bowling/arcades with all attending ArtVo.
The weather was good to us and once in Docklands it was easy to get around. We had the bowling and arcades area to ourselves spending nearly two hours there. A good time was had by all as the photographs will show.
The ice skating rink felt very cold walking in from the warmth outside. All students got involved and even those who had not ice skated before had a go. Initially MSC had the rink to themselves and made the most of the venue.
Many of the students had not heard of ArtVo before so it was a new experience for them. The concept is that you put yourself into a painted picture which once you take a photograph of appears to include your image into it, very clever! Have a look below.
The students were all amazing on the day and really enjoyed the experience of trying new things. A big thank you to them and the wonderful MSC staff who accompanied us and made it all go so well.
Sian Jones
Year 9 Team Leader
Year 12 Head Start Apprenticeship and Traineeships (SBAT)
Congratulations to the Year 12 Head Start Apprenticeship and Traineeships (SBAT) students of 2024. The Head Start Bayside Peninsula Area (BPA) team wish all the students the best of luck as they complete their SBATs and transition into full-time. Students have worked hard throughout their school based apprenticeship/ traineeships to balance the demands of school with the demands of work in their chosen industry and the corresponding TAFE course. These students are on their way to fulfilling their chosen career pathway. We hope they achieve every success in the future.
Congratulations to:
Abby Dillon – Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care
Nikola Varga – Certificate III in Cabinet Making and Timber Technology
Taj Whittle – Certificate III in Electrotechnology
Connor Grady – Certificate III Electrotechnology
Bruce Brenton – Certificate III Plumbing
Jesse Mills – Certificate III Carpentry
Lachlan Delphine – Certificate III Carpentry
Bek Mantell and the Head Start BPA Team.
Year 11 Formal - Get your dancing shoes on!
Tickets for Year 11 formal are now on sale $96.50 plus booking fee, please follow the link to purchase your ticket.
https://www.trybooking.com/CVCRW
It's going to be a fantastic evening, don't miss your chance to have a great night.
Smile Squad is coming to Mornington - Free dental for all students
Monday 7th to Thursday 24th October
Please see the Smile Squad flyer which has information about this fantastic program and a link to consent. Link also here: Smile Squad enrolment
Year 12 Art Exhibition - Nature Nurture
18 to 20th September
$400 School Saving Bonus
Harmful Effects of Smoking and Vaping
Parents, carers, schools, and community all play an important role in protecting children and young people from, and educating them about, the harmful effects of smoking and vaping.
Research from the Royal Children’s Hospital shows many parents and carers are not aware of the harmful effects or how their views about smoking and vaping can impact the likelihood of a young person taking up smoking or vaping.
The Department of Education has developed resources to help you learn more about the health risks of smoking and vaping. The resources include advice about how to talk to children and young people about vaping, and where to get support. To access the resources, go to https://www.vic.gov.au/smoking-and-vaping-advice-parents
You can also view this video on smoking and vaping from experts at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne for health advice and tips for starting a conversation with young people.
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