Welcome back to all staff, students and parents for semester two, 2024.

I would like to start by congratulating all students on what was a very successful semester one this year. I’ve had the opportunity to attend all of the year level assemblies at the beginning of this term and take part in the celebration of the efforts and achievements of all students from Years 7 to 12. I was extremely impressed by the formal nature of awards ceremonies and very proud of the many students who were recognised for the efforts. Each student who received an award also received a badge representing their achievements and I really encourage all students to be proud of their achievements and wear their badges with pride. The whole school assembly, our second of the year, provided the opportunity to celebrate our Academic Award winners. The school community was highly respectful in the acknowledgement and celebration of our highest academic performers as well as our Principal Award winners.

The other part of our whole school assembly was highlighting the importance of Friday the 16th of August. The National Day of Action to address Violence Against Women and Bullying.

Violence against women and bullying are critical social issues that affect individuals, families, and communities. Statistics reveal that one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, often at the hands of someone they know. Similarly, bullying impacts millions of lives, particularly in schools and workplaces, leading to severe emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical harm.

The National Day of Action serves as a call to action for everyone—individuals, organisations, and governments—to take a stand and commit to ending these forms of violence and harassment. It is a day to reflect on the progress made, acknowledge the work still to be done, and pledge to be part of the solution.

As a school community we recognise that we must encourage respectful relationships across all interactions within our community and not stay silent on repeated behaviours that lead to ingrained behaviours that will present later in life.

All students will continue to get involved in this issue in the coming weeks.

The semester one reports were completed in the last week of term 2 and made available to all parents. All parents should now have viewed their child’s report and we hope discussed the information contained in it to gauge the academic progress of your child. Having checked the log in details of all parents it is disappointing to know that some parents are yet to access their child’s report. Any parent who is yet to view their child’s report should log onto Compass and view it through this portal. If you are having trouble completing this, please contact the general office so this can be arranged.

For those students who underperformed in semester one, the start of a new semester provides them with a fresh start and the opportunity to improve the content of their next report. Student managers at each year level also look at those students who have under achieved and not met the academic requirements of Lalor Secondary College. Parents of these students will receive a letter outlining the schools concerns, as well as providing advice on how families can support these students to improve their results. Student Managers will be meeting with a number of students and parents over the coming weeks to discuss some strategies on how this can be achieved. I ask all parents who have been contacted to please make an appointment with the relevant Student Manager so this meeting can take place.

2024 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey

WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 29 July to Friday 30 August 2024. All parents will receive the log-in details via Compass today (Monday the 29th of July).

All families are invited to participate in the survey.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to your child’s teacher, or the school directly for survey guides in your language.

Last year’s results highlighted teacher communication to parents as an area for improvement and was one aspect of the survey discussed at length by the School Improvement Team. Please contact the general office if you would like more information.

Information Evenings - 2024

This term sees information evenings running for VCE, 10, and 9. I encourage all parents to attend these evenings, so they are informed about the changes that occur as your child transitions from one year to the next. The evenings take around one hour to complete and there is plenty of time to ask questions and gather information from staff about the transition process. The information evenings will be held on at the following dates and times.

VCE Information Evening	Tuesday 30th July
Year 10 Information Evening	Thursday 1st August
Year 9 Information Evening	Tuesday 6th August

Parent Teacher Conferences – Semester 2

All parents are invited to the Semester 2 Parent / Teacher conferences on Wednesday the 14th of August. These conferences provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s Semester 1 report, as well as plan with teachers on how you can best support your child to achieve academic success in Semester 2.

Student Free Days – Term 3

The schools will be running its final Curriculum Day for 2024 on Friday the 2nd of August. This is a student free day, and all families should make the necessary arrangements for their children to remain at home.

The school will also undertake a Professional Practice Day on Thursday the 5th of September. This will also be a student free day with no classes running on this day,

I look forward to a very successful semester two for all students and staff and ask that if you have any questions about the above information above that you contact me on

9463 7300.

Corey Jewell

College Principal

School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI)

The School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) is designed to boost education opportunities and narrow the digital divide. This Australian Government initiative is providing up to 30,000 eligible families with school age children with no internet at home access to free nbn® until 31 December 2025.

Parents/carers with school students can contact the National Referral Centre to check whether they qualify. If families sign up asap - this offer means close to 2 school years of free internet until 31 December 2025.

To check your eligibility, follow these simple steps.

Contact the National Referral Centre, operated by Anglicare Victoria, on 1800 954 610 (Mon–Fri, 10am–6pm AEDT), www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet.
The National Referral Centre team will help assess your eligibility for the SSBI, by checking several things including your residential address and current financial situation.
If eligible, you will be issued a voucher which can be redeemed at any of the participating SSBI retail service providers. The National Referral Centre will also be available to assist with contacting your SSBI retail service provider of choice and providing follow-up support.

What is the eligibility criteria for the initiative?

To be eligible, a family must:

Have a child living at home that is enrolled in an Australian school.
Have no active broadband service over the NBN network.
Live in a premise where they can access a standard NBN service.
Not have had an active NBN service during the previous 14 days.

Families can directly contact the National Referral Centre to have their eligibility assessed or be referred by a participating nominating organisation.

Information Evening

Peter Lalor