From the Principal

Good morning everyone, I often begin my article by saying how busy life at school is and this week has been no exception with our Japanese visitors enjoying life as a Mornington student, going to class with their buddies and participating in numerous excursions, including a visit to Benton Junior College.  

I had the privilege of attending the College Production, ‘The Lightning Thief’, last night.  The story is about a half blood son of a Greek God, discovering powers he has, but cannot control. The show is adapted from the best-selling book, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. We have so many talented students and staff. Thankyou to the team of dedicated staff, led by Sarah Jeffs. Without them the show would not have been possible. There are still tickets available for the Saturday matinee, please come along.  

Today is Happy Principal’s Day. It is a Victorian Government initiative recognising and celebrating the tireless contribution of Assistant Principals and Principals.  

I would like to acknowledge Nick Evans, Mike Parker and Denise Leggett for the hardwork, dedication and commitment they bring to the school community. They work tirelessly every day, often weekends to ensure the College runs smoothly and the needs of students and staff are catered for.  

Yesterday, Denise and Nick introduced Classroom Mastery to 27 schools. They spoke about our journey so far and explained the entry and exit routines and the ‘cue to start’. These are areas we have been focusing on since the beginning of this year and will continue to embed these routines in every classroom at all year levels.  

Course counselling interviews continue. Subject selections will inform the number of classes in each subject area and subjects will only run, if there are sufficient numbers to be viable. Next week will see the beginning of the 2025 timetable generation. An enormous amount of work is required to ensure the timetable is ready for Fast Forward in November.  

Have a lovely week everyone. I hope you are finding our weekly newsletter informative.  

Linda Stanton

Principal

Important Dates

Term 3

August

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

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

Friday 9th August - Staff Professional Development Day - Student Free

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

Wednesday 28th to Friday 30th August - Music Camp

September

Thursday 12th September - Year 7 2025 Parent Information Evening - 5.00pm to 6.00pm

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

Konnichiwa,

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the wonderful families who have billeted our Japanese students. Our friendship with the students and PTA from Osaka continues to grow year after year, providing a fantastic cross-cultural experience and learning opportunity. The students have engaged in numerous activities: visiting Main Street, attending the primary schools, exploring Melbourne city and touring the town hall, visiting Moonlit Sanctuary, and watching the rehearsal of our production "The Lightning Thief."

On Tuesday, our new friends will return home to Japan. At our Year 7 assembly, the Japanese students will present a dance performance, and the Drum Corps will play and march to the beat of the drums. The students will also have the opportunity to play the drums as we take this moment to thank them and wish them a safe journey home.

In other news, Year 9 course counselling was a great success. Thank you to our families for their support. Students have chosen their Year 10 subjects for 2025.

Our Year 8 students have been actively participating in various Olympic activities and have had a fantastic time. Prizes will be awarded to celebrate their efforts!

Best regards,

Denise Leggett

Middle School Assistant Principal

Senior School

To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,

Konnichiwa, or if you are reading this in the morning, ohayou gozaimasu. It’s been delightful to spend some time with our guests from Osaka during this week. It’s always great to be able to share the culture and traditions of our school, local area and greater Melbourne with overseas guests. Our students have been wonderful in supporting our Japanese visitors and are a credit to themselves. Thank you to those families who have generously taken on the responsibility of billeting a Japanese student from Osaka.

Course Counselling season

Course counselling season will conclude In the next couple of weeks as we will have the bulk of programs selected by this weekend. My team will be reviewing all the Year 11 into 12 programs individually and ensuring we have selections from all students.

We’ll also be doing some follow up of any Year 10 into 11 students who require further conversations or assistance.

Students will find out about their 2025 programs in term 4 but VCE students going into Year 11 and 12 will be informed earlier if the subjects they chose did not attract enough student interest (to run in 2025) in the next few weeks. 

Applying for courses after Year 12 

Most university courses and many other tertiary courses require students to apply through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC). Year 12 VCE ATAR students have been working through the steps required to create a VTAC ID in their ROADMAP supervised study skills periods. Next week students will be exploring the course search function of the VTAC website and then they will learn all about the Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) that supports applications under 4 categories. I’ll mention more about this in future newsletter articles.

Only students who wish to apply for university or tertiary courses offered through VTAC require a VTAC ID and application. Some TAFEs require a direct enrolment. 

For parents who wish to do their own research for peace of mind, please visit https://vtac.edu.au/ and consider contacting our Careers Practitioner, Teena Borshoff.

Term 3 key dates for Senior School

• Fri 2nd August – Year 10 into Year 11 course counselling
• Fri 13th September – Final Day for Unit 4 coursework (Yr 12 VCE ATAR)
• 16-20th September – Trial exam period for Year 12 classes 
• September 30 – Timely VTAC applications close (Year 12 students only)

Kind regards,

Nick Evans

Senior School Assistant Principal

You don’t have to go to school today……

Attendance at school is very important for all sorts of reasons. I’ve simulated a students learning with 80% attendance (missing 1 in every 5 lessons), by blanking out every 4th or 5th word. 

Regular school attendance is         for academic success,  skill        , and building strong     It helps students keep       with their studies, develop       skills, and maintain a           . Additionally, it allows for early          of issues and ensures          to support and      resources.

As you can see it makes understanding difficult now lets multiply that by 6 subjects and I don’t need to explain why a student's attendance is so important to their learning, so making sure your child is at school as much as possible is essential.

To help us monitor student attendance we will be moving to a period by period SMS system. This will SMS you when the student is marked absent in class, it will have a clickable link that will allow you to explain your child’s absence and that will cover the absence for the day.

Lets work together to get students here as much as possible.

Kind regards,

Mike Parker

Assistant Principal

SMR Badminton Championships

On Friday the 26th of July our Year 9/10 Girls Badminton team competed at the SMR Badminton Championships at Springers Leisure Centre in Keysborough.

Congratulations to each of the girls for their efforts on the day and all their dedication to training every lunch time in the lead up to this event. Our outstanding girls demonstrated fantastic sportsmanship with their positive attitudes and determination. Overall, the girls won several games throughout the day. Due to some top-level competition from other schools we were unable to make it through to the finals.

Well done girls. Fantastic effort to make it through to SMR Finals!

Alex Mackenzie

Athletics Coach

Environmental Club

Are having a fundraiser to help raise money for National Tree Planting Day.  Come and buy a pancake or two on the 7 August.

Environmental Week

Buy a reusable water bottle, and use it!

“There will be more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050”. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Less demand for plastic water bottles will result in lower production of plastic bottles and ultimately less plastic in our oceans.

It's Production Time!  Final show

The musical follows Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old boy who newly discovers that he is a demigod and goes on a quest to find Zeus' missing lightning bolt and prevent a war between the Greek gods.

Last show tomorrow night 3 August show commences at 2pm.

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