From the Principal
Hello everyone,
Each year all Victorian Government schools ask the community to participate in one of three surveys. The student attitudes to school survey, staff opinion survey and the parent opinion survey. The surveys are conducted online and the results of an individual school are compared with similar schools (school demographics), schools within their network (in our case – two local secondary schools) and the State (all secondary schools within Victoria).
The results of all three surveys are provided to schools to assist them in planning for the future. The results are a great litmus test as to how the individual school is travelling. All Principals and school staff are always very keen to see the results as they can be a source of celebration and highlight areas requiring attention. Thank you to the many members of our community who took the time to participate in completing the surveys.
School staff (teachers) are asked questions about teaching and learning. The questions are grouped into 4 areas – Teaching and Learning evaluation, Teaching and Learning implementation, Teaching and Learning planning and Teaching and Learning improvement. In all areas, Mornington Secondary College ranked higher than similar schools, network schools and the State. This is certainly cause for celebration, but we cannot and will not stop making the teaching and learning for our students the best it can possibly be. This term, our teaching staff have embarked on professional learning through peer observation and feedback. This is recognised as an area of growth but also an area we can focus on for improvement.
This year more than 80% of our students participated in the Attitudes to School survey. They are also ranked against similar schools, network schools and the State. Our students are saying, stimulated learning, effective teaching time, attitudes to attendance, perseverance, self regulating and goal setting and sense of confidence is better than other schools. Where we could prioritise moving forward would be student voice and agency and sense of connectedness to the College and respect for diversity. These areas will be considered as we write our Annual Implementation Plan for 2024.
The results of the parent opinion survey are still pending, so I am unable to share this information with you.
Monday 6th November is a pupil free day. Staff will begin preparations for our annual Presentation Evening held in December and they will be presented with the results of the staff and student surveys. Staff will work collaboratively planning for future lessons and units of work, also preparing for our new school year to begin, 27th November.
Thank you for being part of the Mornington Secondary College community.
Linda Stanton
Principal
Important Dates
OCTOBER
24/10/23 - 15/11/23 | VCAA Exams
NOVEMBER
06/11/23 | Student free day
07/11/23 | Melbourne Cup Public Holiday - Student free day
23/11/23 | Year 10 Graduation
24/11/23 | Student free day
17/11/23 | VCE Launch Night 6pm-7pm
27/11/23 | Fast Forward commences
29/11/23 - 1/12/23 | MSC Art Show
DECEMBER
08/12/23 | Last day for Year 10 and Year 11 students
11/12/23 | Presentation Evening
12/12/23 | Orientation Day 2024 Year 7 students
20/12/23 | Last Day of school for 2023
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Middle School
Dear Parents and Guardians,
The Year 8 team, Adam Pirrie, Kim Rattue and Shaun Doherty worked with the Year 8 student leaders to fund raise for Speak & Share.
Speak & Share is a Not-for-Profit Mental Health Organisation who encourages the tough conversations and challenges the stigma associated with mental health.
Our Year 8 students organised a college event to raise funds for the program. They did an outstanding job and raised over $450 by selling snow cones (flavoured ice) at recess and lunch on Wednesday 1st November.
We also had parent helpers, Craig Christy who picked up the ice machine and Nicole Spicer who then brought it to school.
Our students really enjoyed the day and did a great job making a profit for the Speak and Share organisation.
Thank you to everyone involved.
Denise Leggett
Middle School Assistant Principal
Senior School
To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,
I hope all had a great week and are looking forward to the Melbourne Cup public holiday (our students also have a pupil free day on Monday). Our Senior School students are just a week away from finishing their classes, commencing exams, and then moving into our Fast Forward program where they commence their 2024 classes. This will be a really important time, to reset, refocus and start the next year of their schooling in the right manner (uniform, attendance, punctuality, evidence of learning in class etc). There will be some refinement to current structure and systems which will be rolled out during this time. More information to come, much of which will be covered at the VCE launch night on Monday 27th November 6pm - 7pm. I look forward to seeing you there.
Next week the 2024 College Captains and I will be launching the Student Leadership Package for 2024. We are looking to expand the number of leaders in 2024 and have created new positions that are designed to have more diversity in skills and interests represented within the leadership team. I encourage you to have a conversation with your child (or children) about exploring the possibility of being a student leader at Mornington Secondary College in 2024. It is a fantastic learning process for all candidates whether they end up being appointed or not and great practice for the ‘real world’ of applications and interviews.
Kind regards,
Nick Evans
Senior School Assistant Principal
Career Pathways
On Tuesday 31st October, we had the MACC (Mobile ADF Careers Centre) bus visit Mornington Secondary College along with two Defence Force Recruiters.
Students came along at lunchtime to discuss possible career pathways in the Army, Navy & Air Force. Many students were interested in learning about the following different job roles, Air Force pilot, Aeronautical Engineer, Artillery Operator, Infantry soldier, and Submariner roles there were also lots of interesting questions such as enquiring about navy vessels, gap year programs, weapons, pay & benefits.
Students were lucky enough to receive ADF caps, pins, and fridge magnets and some ventured inside the Careers Bus.
You might have seen the traveling MACC, this week it was parked at Mornington Park (along the Esplanade), information sessions were held, and the recruitment team had meetings organised with locals, saving them the long trip to the city, they also had other adults drop-in asking questions, etc. The bus has been refurbished to include a meeting area and separate interview tables. Look out for it as it travels around our local towns. The MACC bus will return to MSC sometime in 2024.
Vocational Major Students
In the last two weeks of school, the Year 11 Vocational Major classes have hosted a tabloid sport for the Year 7s to partake in. It consisted of the Year 11s making a few groups and choosing a game to run. On the day of the tabloid sports for each Year 7 group, the Year 11s would set up their sports and the Year 7s would take turns (in teams) to go around and try out each activity while competing for the most points to win the games.
This was done as an effort to improve the cohesion between the year levels as well as show an example of how community cohesion can work. This proved well as both year levels enjoyed the experience and had fun participating in the games.
Dianne Parkinson & Kirsty Hamson
Mornington Peninsula Libraries
Attention VCE students!
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Mr Jake Uhlenberg
The days tick by and we have the sudden realisation that we have just over a week's worth of classes until exams, and then, we will say goodbye to the Year 10 cohort of 2023 and send them to their VCE classes on November 27.
We hope students will focus themselves on improving their study skills in the lead-up to exams as we expect every student to attend and do their best to show achievement, and in most cases, improvement from where they were 5-6 months ago.
More information will come out soon about exam schedules and we encourage students and parents to reach out to teachers or us the coordination team with any questions or queries about support.
On a lighter note, we would like to thank the students of Project Ready for their attendance on Thursday wherein they spent the day completing a beach clean-up for the Mornington Shire. Our students showed off exactly what makes Mornington students so special.
Year 11
Dr Jasmine Keough
The push is on for students to ensure that they achieve their Satisfactory for Unit 2. Subject teachers have been holding sessions during recess and lunch to allow students to catch up on their work. It is essential that students use this time well. Students need to not have a lackadaisical attitude to work; being careless, lazy, and lacking determination is not the way to success!
It won't be long before the Year 11 students transition into Year 12 students which is very exciting for them. We only have next week before the exam period begins. It is vital to keep attending school and ensuring all learning tasks are completed.
We will have our final assembly next Wednesday to farewell the Year 11s students. The Year 11 Coordination Team have enjoyed supporting our lovely students and we wish them well as they head into their final year of schooling.
Our VM students have two more days at school - this Thursday and next Thursday before they have their presentations. In our last VM Connect class on Tuesday, all three classes came together to enjoy Halloween: watching The Babadook and consuming jellied body parts, Vampire suckers and limb lollies!
Year 12
Mr Scott Kirkby
VCAA exams are in full swing and students have been preparing well and remaining calm. All Year 12 exams will be complete by 5:15pm on November 14. As students finish, this can be a challenging time, to go from heavy study to completely finishing study for now. Taking time to reflect, celebrate and set new goals is important in this time.
VCE ATAR results will come out on December 11. For information regarding access to results, please click this link VCAA FAQ’s
We are proud of our students and their ATAR does not define them. We ask that they do themselves proud, try their best and put in the work to know they did all they could and are satisfied with the outcome.
The Year 12 team is available to share successes and support pivots in preferences and discuss new goals with all our students.
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