Sydenham Campus Principal Message

November Sydenham Campus Principal’s Report

As we approach the end of this school year we are already looking forward to and preparing for 2024. We held our mid term campus assembly on November 10th and our student leaders farewelled our Year 10 students, wishing them well for their Transition to the Delahey Campus. The campus assemblies are always events that we all look forward to and the musical performances were once again a standout. Thank you to Mr Concepcion, Ms Van Orsouw and Mr Canning and the performing arts Team for preparing the students who sang and played.

It is always wonderful to see the growing confidence of some of our students who are often reluctant to speak at assemblies- suddenly transform and take to the microphone. Keisha Lay spoke about her experiences at the ABCN Interview to Impress session with Bain Consulting, showing some of the techniques she learned during her interaction with her mentor. Thank you to Ms Orford for her support and leadership on the day.

Thank you to Mrs Martin and Mr Hasip for their support and organisation of the campus assembly.

Thank you to our Campus Captains Angus and Isabella who hosted their last campus assembly together. Both of these young people have contributed so positively to our campus this year, always at the ready to host events, assist younger students and their peers. Isabella often singing the National Anthem to begin our assemblies! Thank you, Isabella, and all the best as you transition to the Delahey Campus.

Last Wednesday we held a mini assembly for the students of B and K Teams, formally farewelling them from their 4 years on the Sydenham Campus. Thank you to Mr Riccobene and Mr Stirkul for their leadership of the 9/10 Teams and students. Our final celebration with these students will be at the Year 10 Formal on Thursday 30/11/23.

Sydenham Student Leadership 2024. Over the last month, students had the opportunity to apply for student leadership position for 2024. The Campus Leaders and Campus Principals ran interviews over 2 days and were very impressed by the students and the responses. There were some great suggestions as to how we could improve the campus and what our goals should be for 2024. It is with great pride that we introduce our 2024 Student Leadership Team.

Campus Captains: Angus Morgan, Isabella Bouthier-Polo, and Neisha-Lee Fedele

Year 10 Student Leaders: Sachein Sugumar and Alwyn Kalms

Year 9 Student Leaders: Lewis Nguyen Cao and Anika Potschin

Year 8 Student Leaders: Julia Portelli and Evan Morgan

Year 7 Student Leaders: Sofia Alvarado and William McFarlane

Sport Leaders:

Kate Wacuka (also to support SRC)

Jamil Abou Baker

SRC Leaders:

Lilly Sutton Hawes (also to support student leadership)

Sashka Trajcevsks

Aneka Van Loggerenberg (also to support student leadership)

Congratulations to all the students!

We had the great pleasure of being in the audience as our SRC students presented their project at the Brimbank Council Chambers, a few weeks ago. Students confidently discussed their findings on how student engagement can be improved. They had thoughtful recommendations based on their data and they looked wonderful too!

Students worked with Swinburne University staff over a series of weeks which culminated in the presentation. Thank you to Mr Mugam who supported, encouraged, and led the students as they participated in the Young Researchers’ Project. Thank you also to Mr Dagher for his support and encouragement.

Sharing our diversity and successes has been a theme of our year and we had lots of success with our campus sports teams.

Thank you to Mr Riccobene and the staff who coached, supported and led teams throughout the year. Mr Riccobene’s summary for 2023 is as follows;

Dear Copperfield Community,

As the academic year ends, it is with great pleasure that we reflect on the outstanding achievements of our students on the sporting field. The Copperfield sports teams have once again demonstrated dedication, teamwork, and excellence, making this year a great year to reflect on. Highlights throughout the year include.

Year 9/10 Boys Futsal winning the Keilor Division
Several students competing at the western metro athletics carnival.
Several students competing in the western metro swimming competition.

Beyond the victories and accomplishments, what stands out most is the sportsmanship and team spirit demonstrated by our wonderful students. Whether it was a thrilling victory or a challenging defeat, our students demonstrated resilience, respect, and a commitment to the values of fair play.

As we celebrate the successes of this year, we extend our gratitude to the coaches, parents and students who have played an integral role in the successful year.

Congratulations to all our students on a successful year! Your hard work and dedication have made the Copperfield family proud. As we look forward to next year, we are confident that the spirit of excellence will continue to shine brightly within the Copperfield sports community.

On the 9th of November we welcomed our 2024 Year 7 students and their families to the Campus. The Information Evening was very well attended and there were many excited (and a little nervous), Grade 6 students. Students and their families were able to meet their 2024 Connect Teacher as well as finding out lots of information for next year. Thank you to Ms Allison (Transition Leader), Mr Hasip, Ms Chung and Mr Mollaj for their organisation of the evening. We look forward to seeing those students again on Orientation Day – 12/12/23.

Our current Year 7 students enjoyed a wonderful day at Sovereign Hill last week.

Thank you to Julia Portelli of 7E2 for providing this report:

On Friday the 17th, Year 7s had the opportunity to have a fun excursion at Sovereign Hill. Students started their day by spending an hour and fifteen minutes on the bus to Ballarat and were then dropped off at the entrance. Throughout the day, both E team and H team were split into class groups and each spent time at two different education sessions. The education activities included the ‘Welcome to the Goldfields Tour’ and the ‘Labyrinth Mine Tour’.

In the ‘Welcome to the Goldfields Tour’, we walked through the streets and gold panning areas and looked more into how people lived, gold panned and supplied life necessities during the 1850s. In the ‘Labyrinth Mine Tour’, classes travelled down to the mines on a tram through complete darkness. We then walked through the tunnels, occasionally stopping to look at quartz, a drill and a previously dug mine.

What I found interesting from both tours was learning about how people found gold from pans to machines, and I also loved travelling to the mines in complete darkness as it created a sense of thrill. In our own time, we had the chance to break off into groups and go and explore Sovereign Hill on our own. We went to the main cafe, candle works and of course, the famous sweet shop, where we got our money’s worth of raspberry drops! Students also had the option to pan for gold in their own time. The main highlight for me was watching the ‘Red Coats Parade’ towards the end of the day as it was an exciting experience to watch! At around 2:00pm, we departed from Sovereign Hill to make our journey back to school after our fantastic day.

I would like to say a big thanks to all the teachers who came with us and helped us out. I would also like to say a special thank you to Mr Hasip for organising this event! I would 100% recommend it to everyone!

We will be farewelling the following teaching staff members for the Sydenham campus at the end of this year. Mr James Riccobene (Williamstown High School), Ms Thi Dinh (CRC), Mr Paul McDonald (retirement), Ms Joanna Christopher (Sunshine SC), Ms Kara Richards (Salesian College), Ms Anna Koene (resignation). We wish all of them well and hope they take a little piece of Copperfield College with them. There will also be some campus movements and we thank the following teaching staff members for their work on the Sydenham campus and wish them well at their new ‘homes’. Ms Miranda Orford, Ms Pamela Barbara, Ms Bahriye Bol-Apak, and Mr Jamie Canning.

Thank you to our students, their families and our staff for all of their work, support and enthusiasm throughout 2023 and we look forward to seeing all our students and families again in 2024.

Mr Andrew Atherton and Ms Mary Chiodo Campus Principals