College News, Sports & Events

ANNUAL PRIVACY REMINDER FOR OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. 

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

YEAR 7 AND 10 IMMUNISATION PROGRAM 

Dear Year 7 and Year 10 students and families, 

Did you know that the dead line for the consent forms for the Immunisation programme is March 7th?

Students in Year 7  and Year 10 are offered free vaccines under the Secondary School Immunisation Program (SSIP) as part of the National Immunisation Program (NIP). 

City of Greater Dandenong Immunisation team deliver the program to Keysborough College.

Completing consent forms early allows the immunisation team to finalise vaccine planning, staffing, and location set‑up. This helps prevent delays and ensures a smooth, well‑organised session on the day.

Students cannot be vaccinated without parent/carer consent. Every student must have a completed form — either to consent or to decline the vaccines.

The Year 7 immunisations will occur on the following Dates: Acacia Campus 19/08/2026 Banksia Campus 11/08/2026

On this day, students will receive two vaccines:

• Diphtheria–Tetanus–Whooping Cough booster (dTpa)
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV – GARDASIL®9)

These vaccines protect against serious illnesses such as:

• Diphtheria – causes breathing and heart problems.
• Tetanus – causes painful muscle spasms and can be life-threatening. 
• Whooping Cough – causes severe, long-lasting coughing and breathing problems.
• HPV– can cause cervical cancer, cancers of the throat and mouth, and other serious diseases.

Please see below the Basic Consent form link: Year 7 Immunisation Consent Form – Greater Dandenong

Year 10 students Immunisations will occur on the following dates: Acacia 03/06/026 and Banksia 02/06/2026

On the day Year 10 students will receive one vaccine which is given to protect them against Meningococcal disease, which is a rare, but serious illness that most commonly

presents with meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) is caused by bacteria that can spread from person-to-person, and can affect all age groups but is more common in young children, adolescents and young adults.

Please see the Basic Consent form link: Year 10 Immunisation Consent Form – Greater Dandenong

Should you require assistance completing this form, please contact the Dandenong Immunisations office on 8571 1477.

Further information about the vaccines provided in secondary school or the NIP, see Immunisation in secondary schools on the Better Health Channel website https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/immunisation-in-secondary-schools

For translated resources, please visit the Department of Health website https://www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation/secondary-school-immunisation-program

Late consent forms create significant challenges and may mean your child cannot be vaccinated at school.

Thank you for your support in returning the consent form by the cut‑off date.

AMBULANCE COVER

If your child requires urgent medical treatment while at school, the school will call 000. The student’s health is our primary concern. Should an ambulance be required to attend and transport your child, any costs associated with this will be incurred by the parent. 

In Victoria, ambulance services are not free or covered by Medicare. An Ambulance Victoria membership protects you against costs for ambulance transport and paramedic care. 

Membership costs

For more information visit https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/membership

SCHOOL CANTEEN

NEWS FROM THE HEALTH CARE CENTRE

Last year our School Nurse Emily Kate completed an audit of all medical supplies in the Health Care Centers at Banksia and Acacia Campus. From this audit she had found there were medical supplies from crepe bandages, wound dressings, to gauze that had passed their expiry date.   

From here, our mission became finding somewhere we could donate these supplies and what we discovered surprised us.

We discovered the healthcare system is the SECOND largest contributor to landfill, contributing to 7% global greenhouse gas emissions and an alarmingly, 30% of healthcare waste consists of medical supplies that are unused and safe, while half of the world’s population does not have access to basic medical care.

This motivated us to look for an organisation who could rescue our medical supplies and redistribute our medical surplus we had to recipient communities in need.  

Medical Pantry, a Victorian Charity were very happy and willing to take our expired medical supplies and organised a lovely volunteer to come and collect the donation from Keysborough Banksia College for the Bushfire Animal Welfare Community. 

We feel very grateful for the opportunity as a school community to contribute to wildlife rescue. 

Through this experience, and now in our second successful year running the Health Care Centre (HCC), regular audits of the presentations we see in the HCC have helped us develop a more structured purchasing guide that reduces oversupply and ensures supplies are used where they’re needed most 😊

Animal Welfare Team | Medical Pantry

Medical Pantry - Sustainable Healthcare

VCE & VCE VM PARENT MEET & GREET

Last Thursday, February 12, our school hosted the VCE and VCE VM Parent Meet & Greet afternoon, with a fantastic turnout! It was inspiring to see so many families engaging with staff and connecting with the school community.

The event gave parents the chance to meet teachers, learn about the VCE & VCE VM programs, and discuss strategies to support students’ learning. The Careers Team was also on hand to outline pathways and post-school options, while our wellbeing team shared support services available to help students manage the demands of VCE and VCE VM studies.

The afternoon highlighted the importance of collaboration between home and school. By working together, we can help students thrive academically and personally.

A big thank you to all families who attended - your involvement strengthens our community and ensures our students have every opportunity to succeed this year.

Celeste, Phoebe, Angelina & Natalie

CAMPS, SPORTS, EXCURSIONS FUND (CSEF)

Do you hold a Healthcare card or Pension Card? You may be eligible for CSEF

The department administers the Camps, Sports, and Excursions Fund (CSEF) to help eligible families with the costs of camps, sporting activities and excursions/incursions.

From 1 January 2026, families eligible for CSEF will see an increase in support to $400 for primary and secondary school children.

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like:

• school camps/trips
• swimming extension activities and other school-organised sport programs
• outdoor education programs
• excursions/incursions that are extracurricular as defined in the Parent Payments policy
• graduations/valedictories.

Schools can receive applications from families for 2026 until 26 June 2026.

Families can list more than one student in the one application form if they are attending the same school. Forms are available at the Front Office. Please complete the form and bring it to your relevant Front Office, along with your Health Care Card.

You are only required to complete one application for the year. 

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

Happy Lunar New Year! Our College embraced the festive spirit with a vibrant range of activities across both campuses. Throughout the week, traditional Chinese music filled the air during breaks, creating a lively cultural atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.

Students took part in hands‑on art activities and an exciting scavenger‑hunt quiz that encouraged them to explore Chinese traditions. Those who completed the quiz and shared a cheerful “Happy New Year” in Chinese were rewarded with a traditional red pocket—a symbol of good fortune for the year ahead.

A big congratulations to all students who joined in the celebrations. Your enthusiasm helped make the Lunar New Year a memorable and joyful occasion for our school community.

新年快乐

YEAR 7 HOUSE ACTIVITIES DAY

Year 7 House Activities Day on the 6th of February, was packed with colours, noise and nonstop energy from start to finish. We kicked things off with the Junior and Senior House Captains forming a loud, cheerful guard of honour as the Year 7s made their way into the theatre, where the Senior House Captains gave little introductions about the Houses histories ( Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon ) with some competitive Kahoot’s based on what the Year 7s had learned. After a quick, but yet intense brain break of Celebrity Heads, students headed to their House’s corner, where the House Captains handed out the House’s badges to the students as they are now officially inducted into their Houses!!. The excitement ramped up again after recess with a magnificent fashion show featuring two brave mascots from each House, where leaders taught their House chants for the parade to the Year 7s. Everyone's energy was through the roof, full of volume!! Next, for a more relaxing chill afternoon before lunch, students and the House Captains were split into their Home Groups to make friendship bracelets, and let just say making bracelets is so much harder than it looks. We wrapped things up in the gym with fast‑paced minor games between the houses. It was intense, it was loud and everyone’s energy was there. Ending with a huge announcement after adding up all the points throughout the day to see which House will go home with the win… and the House that took the win was… ARTEMIS !!!!

Overall Year 7 House Activities Day was a jam packed day, with many bright faces and smiles. The House Captains had an amazing time meeting their Year 7 House members and cheering them on throughout the day ( some even nearly lost their voice… ). It was the House Captains’ first big event of the Year with just one week of planning but the day ended up being a very memorable moment for us all !!. What a beautiful way to mark  the Year 7’s first official full week at Keysborough Secondary College, Banksia Campus !!!

Khuong (Banksia Senior Artemis House Captain) 

NEWS FROM THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT

It has been a great start back to 2026 for the music department at the college! 

Over the past few weeks, our new Year 7 students have been undertaking their band instrument trials. This has been their opportunity to test out all of our band instruments and have their say in what they would like to play for the year 7 program. As a department, we have been impressed by their willingness to give everything a go and test out some new instruments, with many having their first ever experience playing an instrument! Very shortly they will be receiving their instruments as they commence their first instrumental lessons!

For our Year 8 to 12 instrumental students, the past few weeks have been a return to band rehearsals and instrumental lessons. It has been a delight to see so many familiar faces in the department and hear some of the excellent development that has occurred through holiday practice.

Whether we are at the start of our musical journey, or well seasoned within the music program, there are some top tips that will ensure success with instrumental lessons and rehearsals. These are:

• Taking your instrument home each week. All instrumental music students need to develop the habit of taking your instrument home is important for ensuring you can play it and keep up with the requirements of your band subject or ensemble rehearsals. 
• Establishing a regular practice routine. For our Year 7s, this can start with 3 sessions of 10-15 minutes per week. For our more senior students, 4 - 5 sessions of 20-25 minutes is a great place to start for consistent progress on your instruments. Please remember our school value of Respect as you practice, and to find a space and time to play your instrument that is respectful of your family and neighbours. 
• Checking your Compass schedule regularly. Instrumental lessons are visible on Compass the week before to students and parents. Please be sure to check early so you know the day and time of your lesson, and to ensure it does not clash with a Common Assessment Task (CAT) or School Assessed Coursework (SAC). If it does, please email your instrumental teacher so that it can be rescheduled. 
• Regularly maintaining and cleaning your instruments. Over the first few weeks of instrumental lessons, our year 7 students will be shown how to clean and maintain their instruments. This is crucial for not only keeping their instruments sounding their best, but also for maintaining good hygiene. For woodwind instruments, this can include proper reed care and ensuring that pull-through cleaning cloths are used when packing up the instruments. For brass instruments, this can include rinsing out the mouthpiece regularly, emptying out condensation, and ensuring that all slides/valves are properly lubricated. Similarly, for bass guitarists, regularly wiping down the instrument with a microfibre cloth can help keep the strings and body of the bass looking and sounding its best. 

We are looking forward to an exciting year within the program and cannot wait to hear all of the musical progress that occurs! 

Ms Pennefather & Mr Kenneth

Banksia & Acacia Music Leaders

LIBRARY NEWS

Keysborough College Libraries in 2026

As always, there will be all sorts of things going on in the Keysborough College Libraries this year. Our wonderful Year 7 classes have enjoyed orientation sessions in the library complete with a scavenger hunt and goodies; our annual Reading Challenge will start soon, watch out for the Book Week festivities and fun in August, and much more! February is Library Lovers Month. 

Rotary/ Dymocks Library Grant!

Late in 2025, Noble-Park Dingley Rotary Club generously nominated Keysborough College as one of the schools to benefit from Rotary’s annual Local Schools Library Program fund raiser. Rotary, with the sponsorship of a number of local businesses- Club Noble, Tobin Brothers, Sandown Greyhounds, Sandown Park Hotel, along with Dymocks Children’s Charity Program, have managed to raise over $5000 for Keysborough College libraries to spend on library books! Our library staff are currently busily selecting books from Dymocks to be enjoyed by our students. Thankyou Rotary, and thank you Dymocks!

Please enjoy this photo of our very own Mr Boyd at the celebration of this program last year!

ACACIA WELLBEING

Acacia Breakfast Club 

Join the wellbeing team Monday Wednesday and Friday in the café for a free breakfast and a great start to your day!

🍳 bacon, egg and beans every Friday 

🍎 Fruit cups, whole fruits, and cereals available Monday, Wednesday and Friday  

Uniform 

For students needing uniform State Schools’ Relief (SSR) vouchers are available!  For more information, please visit the Wellbeing office and speak with Casey or speak with your year level leaders who will be happy to help. Please allow some time as this time of year we have more uniform requests.

How to make a referral for wellbeing 

if you would like to make a referral to see wellbeing or you’re the parent of a student who you think might need some extra support you can make a referral via the intranet by clicking on the “doctors and wellbeing tab”

Food Bank

We provide meals such as soups, tuna and rice and snacks/fruit to ensure students have the nutrition they need for school day.if you need some lunch, please speak with your year level leaders or the wellbeing staff. We also provide foodbank boxes for families who may need some extra support providing food.

BANKSIA WELLBEING

World Kindness Day

Tuesday 17th February was World Kindness Day and Banksia celebrated with students creating a kindness wall and cards to give out to friends.

Shrove Tuesday

We celebrated Shrove Tuesday at Breakfast Club on 19th February. Along with our usual hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, baked beans and spagetti there were mini pancakes with maple syrup, jam or even vegemite – yum. 

YEAR 7 HOUSE DAY

A couple weeks ago, Keysborough College was filled with excitement, colour and house spirit during the Year 7 House Activity Day. With the new Year 7’s alongside the junior and senior house captains participating. The new students all gathered into the theatre, where they were introduced to all the Junior and Senior House Captains, as well as the House Teachers, Mr Masson and Mr Cox. These teachers, as well as Mr Wood explained the history behind Keysborough College’s house system as well as the values and notions that came alongside being a student in one of the colour house groups. The Year 7s also learnt how to earn house points, and were presented their house badges in order to showcase their house and activate their house spirit.

The morning began with an enthusiastic introduction where the Year 7 students gathered in their colour house groups, proudly representing Artemis, Athena, Apollo and Poseidon. The theatre was buzzing with anticipation as House Captains and teachers officially welcomed everyone to the Year 7 House Activity Day. To fire up competition, students took part in an interactive Kahoot introducing each house where the theatre quickly filled with loud cheers as the leaderboard shifted! The energy continued with high-energy games, Heads and tails, and even the viral dolphin game where a student is selected to perform a particular task, and the rest of the students can only say “yes” and “no” in order to direct them. 

By the end of the lesson, the energy was so high and all of us knew the competition had truly begun.

During periods 3 and 4, the year 7 cohort competed in a house vs. house fashion show, using their creativity to make the best outfit out of papers, balloons and other various items! After an hour of crafting and dressing their fellow housemates, and even a few captains, we all got together in the theatre for the big fashion show! First to go was Athena with a huge cheer from their team, and second was Apollo, with a Chanel designer outfit! Next up was Artemis with an exciting soundtrack in the background, and last to walk was Poseidon with a large cape to show their school pride! After all the judges cast their vote, the final standings were 1st place going to Artemis, 2nd to Athena, 3rd to Poseidon, and Apollo coming 4th. 

For the house's final opportunities to earn house points, period 5 consisted of nostalgic sporting activities! “Around the world” and “capture the flag”.

For those unaware, around the world it is a teamwork game reliant on fast reaction and speed - the main objective being to carry the ball ‘around the world’ in the quickest time possible. Artemis and Apollo were the first houses to compete, and after an exhausting battle, Apollo was victorious! After the swap over, came Posideon and Athenas’ battle. Though lots of confusion and funny moments, the game ended, with the winning house being Athena!

The Year 7 cohort also headed outside for an energetic and highly competitive game of capture the flag. First up was Poseidon vs Athena, with both houses showing great determination as they defended their flags and planned strategic attacks. There were dramatic chases, daring jailbreak runaways and loud cheering from the sidelines. After an intense battle filled with teamwork and house pride, Athena secured the win, leaving Poseidon to accept defeat. Next game was Apollo vs Artemis, a round filled with intensity as both houses were evenly matched. In a thrilling finish,  neither team could claim victory in an extremely close contest! 

The day was a massive success in introducing the new year seven cohort to our school's house culture. Students participating showed immense spirit, supporting their house and gaining some of the first house points of the school year. However, only one house can be the winner. In fourth we had Poseidon gaining 25 points, third Artemis gaining 50 points, second Apollo gaining 75 points, and first Athena gaining 100 points. Well done and thank you to all the year 7s for showing up, giving your all, and supporting your house! 

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS VOLLEYBALL CUP 2025

In December 2025, 20 students from Acacia and Banksia campuses from Year 9-12 competed in the Australian School Volleyball Cup, Gold Coast, Queensland.

This event is Australia’s largest secondary school sporting event with 23 schools from Victoria competing. A total of 166 schools from Australia including 5 from New Zealand were represented at the event.

Both the Keysborough College Boys and Girls team played in the Year 12 Senior Division 1 (Boys) and Division 2 (Girls), the Division just below Honours-the highest level with many State level players.

The boys and girls teams were very competitive with both teams taking sets off the schools that ended up winning their Divisions.

The Boys were 12th out of 24 schools, the Girls 11th out of 23 schools. 

The entire experience for the students was invaluable with opportunity to compete at a national level. It involved training, fundraising, organisation and hard work. The students gained friendships, sportsmanship, confidence, personal skills, experience, resilience and love of the game. 

Both the Coach, Mr Hon Van and Manager, Mrs Karen Riley couldn’t have been prouder of the way the students conducted themselves both on the court and off.

It is anticipated that teams will be selected to compete in 2026. To do this will require fundraising and sponsorship. If you own a local business and would like to sponsor our students we would love to hear from you! 

A big thank you to the College Principal 2025 Mr Aaron Sykes and Acacia Principal, Ms Nat Fode & Banksia Principal, Mr Richard Hastings for your support along with all of the Keysborough College staff - we really appreciated it!

VALENTINE'S DAY CELEBRATION

Love was truly in the air at Keysborough Secondary College on Friday the 13th, as our school came together for a heart-warming and joy-filled Valentine’s Day celebration!

In the weeks leading up to the big day, excitement built across the College as students eagerly purchased roses for the special people in their lives. The response was incredible! An amazing 280 red roses and 180 coloured roses were ordered, creating a sea of colour and kindness across the campus. Even more impressive, every single dollar of profit is being donated to the Heart Foundation, spreading love not only within our school, but into the wider community as well.

On the day, our energetic and dedicated Student Representative Council (SRC) and House Captains worked tirelessly to carefully package and deliver each rose. Classrooms buzzed with anticipation as students received surprise deliveries from friends, partners, and admirers. Smiles, laughter, and a few happy tears could be seen all around!

The celebration didn’t stop there. Lunchtime transformed into a vibrant festival of fun, with students from all year levels joining in exciting couple games for the chance to win fantastic prizes. Delicious homemade brownies were a huge hit, and the ever-popular polaroid booths captured countless friendship and couple photos,  creating memories that will last long after the roses have dried.

Valentine’s Day at Keysborough Secondary College was more than just a celebration. It was a beautiful reminder of the power of kindness, community, and connection. What a wonderful way to share the love! 💕

ELC MATHS

Our ELC students applying mathematics to real life by measuring lengths relating to different parts of their bodies. ie. length of smile, length of biggest step, arm span and more.