Principal Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

A big welcome back to Term 2 to all of you! I really do hope that you had a restful break. The weather has continued to be kind to us all and, I hope that it has made settling back into the swing of things a little easier. 

House Athletics Carnival

On the last day of Term 1, we celebrated our House Athletics Carnival; it is always so much fun to spend the day with the students, and a real privilege to see so many of your children try their best to support their house.

Well done to all Age Group Champions and to all students who participated on the day. 

Thankyou to all staff for their assistance in such an enjoyable day of House Athletics.

Open Events

On 22nd April we held our SEAL information night for prospective parents and students. Thanks to Amelia Hargreaves (SEAL Coordinator) for her presentations for the night. Congratulations also go to our student speakers for SEAL on the night, Will and Minka.

We also look forward to meeting prospective students and their parents at our Open Night on April 30th.  The formal start to Open Night will be at 6.30pm in the Gym with our School Captains Catherine Cole and Eden Handfield hosting this event alongside myself, and our new School Council president, Mr David Beckett. Attendees will be taken on a guided tour of the school so that they can see teaching spaces, meet teaching staff and speak with current students. Thanks to the many students who have volunteered their time to act as guides. 

A reminder to all that we are expecting this to be a well-attended event and as such, parking will be at a premium. The car park in Governor Road is a useful space to consider if you are looking for somewhere that has easy access to parking for this event. 

If you know of families that are interested in sending their child to Mordialloc College, do let them know that we also run tours of the school during the day; people can book in for these tours by calling us on 9580 1184, or by going via our website mcsc.vic.edu.au/ .

SchoolTV: A Wellbeing Resource for Parents

We subscribe to SchoolTV, a wellbeing website designed by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg to assist parents with modern day parenting. This award-winning resource can assist in starting important conversations with your child about topics that can sometimes be deemed as awkward.

Topics feature interviews with leading youth wellbeing experts and additionally, each topic includes a compilation of related resources from key organisations providing a comprehensive stream of content.  To access the vast range of SchoolTV resources, go via our website https://mcsc.vic.edu.au/,  along the top bar click on Parents & Community and then scroll down to click on SchoolTV.

Mordialloc College School Values: Respect

As we start Term 2, I would like to take the opportunity to share some insights into one of our school values: respect.

It is so very important that this value underpins our core focus on positive relationships for learning across the College and within our school community. 

When families and school staff work together as a team, your children do better. Everyone at Mordialloc College, particularly staff and families, play a role in making our school a better place for learning and working. When this relationship is built on respect and trust, students learn better and feel as though they belong.

The Department’s Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy sets out the clear standards of behaviour that we expect from all members of our Mordialloc College community so that we can continue to create the safe, respectful, and inclusive learning environment that our students and staff deserve. 

If you have any questions or feedback as regards this, then I always welcome your contact via mordialloc.co@education.vic.gov.au.

Staffing.

I have some staffing information to share with you:

• Alex Trevison has been driving from the other side of the city to work with us at Mordialloc College, and he has now secured a position a lot nearer to home. Quinn Daly (ArtsTech Learning Area Leader) will be picking up his VCE classes, and Carmelo Grasso will be joining us from week 2 to work in the ArtsTech Learning Area. 

• Suzanna Nikolovski has secured a job closer to home; all of her classes have been picked up by existing Mordialloc College teachers, including Sally Mitchell who, has been a successful VCE Legal Studies and VCE Business Studies teacher at Mordialloc College, and other south east Melbourne schools.

• Sarah Terry is going on maternity leave; she is being replaced by Evengeline Ho, a qualified Speech Therapist who has already settled in well to our Student Services team.

• Sarah Letho has made the move into private practice; we will go through an extensive recruitment process to secure the ideal candidate for this leadership role. 

Mordialloc College is a wonderful school but we are not immune to the current teacher recruitment pressures. In Compass, you may see ‘CRT’ teachers taking some of your child’s lessons. Some of those CRTs are actually long-term employees of the college and, they will know your child and the subject content very well. 

Where we have had to use a CRT agency, those lessons will have been created by the classroom teacher and/or Learning Area Leader. It is never ideal for your child to not have their normal classroom teacher, and we do everything that we can to ensure that they are not impacted  when those scenarios occur. 

I really do appreciate your support with this; of course if you have any academic concerns please, in the first instance, use Compass to contact your child’s classroom teacher.

I am really looking forward to working with you for a positive Term Two.

Rachael Stone

Principal