College Updates
General Office Hours
Welcome back! The General Office is open 8am-4pm Monday- Thursday and 8am-3.30pm on Friday's.
School Saving Bonus
School Uniform
As a college, we pride ourselves on being able to support students to be in school uniform every day. Please see below link to view our Uniform Policy.
College Uniforms - Lowanna College
If you have any questions about the uniform or if you require support, please contact Angela Skinner (Business Manager) on 03 5127 9200.
Welcome to our New Staff
We would like to welcome the following new staff to Lowanna College. We are thankful to have such wonderful staff to support our students and families.
- Melissa Rock - Assistant Principal
- Janette Agg - Teacher (Technology/Mathematics)
- Mark Heiberg - Teacher (Humanities/Mathematics)
- Tim Hooper - Teacher (PE/Science)
- Jade Abbott - Teacher (PE/Health)
- Sarah Longden - Teacher (English/Middle School Leader)
- Andrew Glover - Teacher (Mathematics/Humanities/VM/English)
- Leanne Venables - Teacher (Technology Leader)
- Rebekah Foulds - Teacher (Humanities)
- Mark Lisiecki - Teacher (Humanities)
- Carmel King - Teacher (Science)
- Richard Cornwell - Teacher (Technology/ Humanities)
- Linden Demaria - Teacher (Humanities)
- Lockie Francis - Teacher (Mathematics/Science)
- Ramayer Gourley - Teacher (Art)
- Michelle Grech - Food Technician Assistant
- Kelsey Wright - Integration Aide
- Tahni Hodgens - Sports Administration and Support
- Naomi Mock - College Nurse
- Azriel Halge - Instrumental Music
First Aid Update
Year 7 and 10 Immunisations - Thursday 27 March
Immunisations are fast approaching! Please complete consent online (via the below forms) before Tuesday the 25th of March. If you cannot complete the online consent form, there are paper forms available at the General Office. Consent provided via telephone on the day of immunisations will not be approved this year, so please provide consent by the 25th of March.
Medical Action Plans
A reminder to relevant families to please submit your Action Plans to the First Aid Office as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
For your convenience, we have attached the following links for Action Plans. Please note that a medical practitioner must fill out and sign the document before returning to the school.
Anaphylaxis Action Plans:
https://www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/ascia-action-plan-for-anaphylaxis
Asthma Action Plans:
Diabetic Action Plans:
Epilepsy & Seizure Management Plans:
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club runs daily in the Dining Room from 7.50am-8.30am. We encourage students who have not had a bite to eat to come along and start their day right!
Canteen News
Meet the Canteen and Cafe Team!
Jodie, Marcelle and Ruby are excited to serve you this year!
Compass Canteen
Please find attached a 'How to Guide' to assist you in pre-ordering lunch via Compass.
Canteen Menu
We are excited to offer a new variety of healthy food as part of our Summer Menu! Please find the menu attached.
A reminder that the canteen and cafe take cash and Compass payment only - there are no eftpos facilities available.
School Photo Day
School Photo Day is on Tuesday the 25th of February. Please complete your order online via Compass (you should have received an email last week inviting you to order photos). If you prefer to pay with cash, you can collect a cash envelope from the General Office and your child will need to hand this directly to the photographer on photo day.
If you have any issues with ordering, or have any questions regarding photos, please contact MSP Photography directly on 03 9115 1642.
Bell Times and Class Changes
Please be advised that there are changes to bell times this year, and subsequently class times, with students commencing Period 1 classes at 8.45am. Please see below for more information regarding our new class times.
Students are expected to attend class on time at 8.45am each morning.
NAPLAN 2025
The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2025 for Years 7 and 9 students will occur between Wednesday 12 and Monday 24 March. The online testing platform is adaptive, ensuring that each test is more accurately pitched to individual student ability levels. NAPLAN tests the skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. Literacy and numeracy skills are a critical foundation for other learning and for productive and rewarding participation in the larger community.
It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing and failing, but about assessing your child’s learning progress.
- At the classroom level, NAPLAN is one of several important tools used by teachers to measure your child’s progress. Teachers use this information to challenge high performing students and identify students who require extra support. Importantly, NAPLAN starts a conversation about strategies to best support your child’s future learning.
- Schools use NAPLAN results to identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching programs and to set goals for numeracy and literacy. Programs can be changed and modified for different year level needs.
- NAPLAN results are directly linked to the funding support Lowanna receives for programs, so it is essential that all students complete NAPLAN if we are to continue to receive this financial support.
- Although no preparation or study is required, the NAPLAN tests expose your child to a formal testing process which will enable them to build academic resilience and stamina for later years.
- In keeping with Lowanna’s culture of high expectations, NAPLAN data will be used to recognise and celebrate student growth and achievement.
NAPLAN is about driving student growth and improvement at Lowanna. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that your child actively participates in NAPLAN. The information Lowanna obtains from the tests is vital in determining educational interventions to support future success for every one of our students.
Please, help us, help your children.
Swimming Carnival
Last week students and staff enjoyed a day at the Moe Outdoor Pool for the annual Swimming Carnival. It was a hot day, proving to be great conditions for students to enjoy the swimming races, novelty events and free swim time! Well done to the Blue Sharks on another victory!
Presentation Night 2024
Last year we held our Annual Awards night to celebrate student achievements throughout 2024. Congratulations to all of our students who received an award on the night and thank you to our very talented students who performed on the evening. We would like to thank the following organisations for generously sponsoring our Awards Night and for their ongoing support to our students and college:
TAFE Gippsland
Mining & Energy Union
Baw Baw Shire
Moartz Inc.
Simfix Pty Ltd
Head Start Program
BAMITS
Newark Avenue Milkbar
Iridium Electricians
Rotary Club of Moe
Lion's Club Moe
Australian Defense Force
Triangle Trophy Centre
Beleza School Uniforms
Latrobe Valley Bus Lines
As Motor Australia
Term 1 Assembly - Bringing in 2025
Earlier this term we held a whole school assembly where our SRC were presented with their badges, our new staff were introduced to the college and new students were welcomed. Students were reminded about the importance of arriving to class prepared, with their books, pens and laptops.
Clean Up Australia Day
Clean Up Australia Day is just around the corner on Friday the 28th of February! We would love for you to get involved and help us celebrate 35 years of cleaning up local communities. Register now with your home group teacher and make this the BIGGEST CLEAN UP EVER!
Arts Updates
Welcome to New staff
We are thrilled to welcome Miss Ramayer Gourley and Azriel Halge to the Music Team. Miss Gourley is working as an Arts Teacher and Azriel is working as our Instrumental Music Teacher. We are lucky to have them as part of our team. If you see them around the college, be sure to say hello!
Welcoming Ramayer Gourley
Ramayer has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and is currently studying her Masters of Secondary Education at Melbourne University. Ramayer is multi-disciplinary, typically creating installations constructed of lots of different mediums and materials.
We will have an introduction for Azriel in our next newsletter.
Art Club
Lunchtime Choir
EOI's to join the school band are now open!
Year 7 Art
Year 7 students have made a fantastic start to their Art classes this year. In Unit 1, students are exploring drawing from observation. Students have just completed their ‘upside down drawings’ which is an activity that always challenges them and creates a buzz in the classroom. This task requires students to draw a picture showing a man sitting in a chair. Students turn their reference image upside down before drawing the man. It’s always amazing to see students’ surprise when they flip their books around the right way and see their drawing has worked out!
Ms Bragagnolo & Miss Gourley
Ceramics
Students have been working on creating tiles using the slab technique. Some Year 10 students have pushed this task into designing themed game boards.
Year 10 Painting and Drawing
Students have started the year with contour line and portrait drawings. They practiced their observational skills by drawing each other. Students demonstrated their understanding of the principles of art through their reimagined cropping of influential artworks.
Jacinta Allan Letter
In Term 4 of 2024, Year 8 students completed a unit on persuasive writing. The assessment task involved students sending a letter to a recipient of their choice about something they are passionate about.
Anna Giacobbe chose to address her letter to the Premier, Jacinta Allan, expressing her concerns about rising rates of violence against women and calling for more to be done to keep women safe. Her letter was then sealed in an envelope and sent off to the Premier's office.
Upon arriving back to school in Term 1, Anna was over the moon to see that she'd received a letter back from the Premier herself who thanked her for her 'thoughtful letter' and detailed the actions that the Government has taken to try and reduce rates of violence against women.
Anna says that she felt 'happy to be heard' and excitedly showed the letter to her former Year 8 English teacher, Miss Everitt.
"It's great to see that the Premier has taken the time to respond to one of our students - I really hope this encourages others to take the time to voice their concerns to those in positions of power. I remember being impressed by Anna's letter when I read it for the first time - to tackle such a sensitive and mature topic is no easy feat so I really applaud her for deciding to highlight the issues women face. Anna worked really hard on her letter - we drafted and edited it a couple of times until we were both happy with the finished product. Seeing the students so happy when they receive a reply really makes all the afterschool trips to the Post Office worth it."
Miss Kaitlin Everitt
Pickleball Tournament
We are running a weekly Pickleball Competition on Mondays at lunchtime!! If you want to sign up or have any questions, please contact the PE Team!
Year 11 VCE VM Activity
Earlier this term our Year 11 VM students had fun with an egg drop challenge! Students worked together in groups with limited materials to build a contraption that would allow a raw egg to fall, uncracked, to the ground from 1, 2 and then 3 metres! Congratulations to Isabelle, Sarah, Charlotte and Ruby who were the winning team, and whose egg survived being thrown 5 metres in the air!
Science Update
Year 7
Year 7 students have been learning about safety in science and scientific equipment. They have started conducting experiments and are working towards achieving their Bunsen Burner licenses!
Year 8
Year 8 students have been learning how to magnify small objects using the microscope. They have conducted numerous experiments to learn how to bring an object into view and focus it. Students will them progress to learning about cells.
Year 9
Year 9 students have carried over their learning from Headstart last year and are focusing on Ecosystems. Students have learnt how organisms have formed adaptations and different types of symbiotic relationships in ecosystems. Students will be moving into learning about how energy is generated in plants and used by consumers.
Year 10
Students have been exploring chemistry and different types of chemical reactions. Students have been conducting experiments, including the flame test, which indicates what metal is present.
VCE Science - Our Amazing Staff!
Year 11 Physics - Ms. Wilson
Year 11 Psychology - Ms. Evans and Ms. Lewis
Year 11 Chemistry - Ms. Taylor
Year 11 Biology - Mrs. Wendt
Year 12 Physics - Ms. Wilson
Year 12 Psychology - Ms. Treverton
Year 12 Chemistry - Ms. Taylor
Year 12 Biology - Mr. Sands
School Council Nominations
Nominations for school council are now open, closing next Friday the 28th of February! Nomination forms can be collected from the General Office. If you have any questions or are interested, please contact the General Office on 5127 9200.