From the Principal Class

The semester is coming to an end... 

We have no doubt that many of you would be aware of what a busy time we have had so far this term. In addition to dealing with all of the student assessments, examinations, covid-safe measures, student absences and staff shortages, we continue to grow stronger when we work together - every student in every classroom.  Students and staff have been involved in lots of different activities and lots of incursions and excursions across the school. In all of these events, we have been so proud of our students for the leadership they have shown, their sense of community, and the way in which they have modelled the school values. They are a real credit to themselves, their families and their teachers.

Year 10 – 11 Semester 1 Examinations commence this week and will run until Monday June 17th 2024. Year 10 and 11 students will then receive feedback on their examinations on Wednesday and Thursday of Week 10 before their Cohort Day on Friday June 21st 2024. Year 12 Semester 1 Examinations commence on Monday June 17th and will run for a week. Feedback will be expected to be provided to students from their teachers by the end of the semester or beginning of the next term. The GAT exam will also run on Tuesday June 18th 2024 with all Year12 students completing the exam as well students in Year 11 completing an accelerating study (almost 300 students). The GAT day will be pupil free day for all Years 7 - 10 students in order for senior students to undertake their GAT in line with VCAA requirements. Staff will also have their Professional Practice Day (PPD) on this day for minimal disruption to school operations.

Year 11 and 12 VCE VM students also completed their two-week Structured Workplace Learning block in the last few weeks. From all accounts, we are hearing once again some good news stories from this learning. 

Semester 2 will commence for all students in Week 11, Term 2 as part of the Assessment and Reporting schedule. A new timetable will commence at the beginning of the last week of term. Unit 2 and 4 studies will also commence. This week is a normal week for classroom instruction; there is no excuse for any student or parent /carer who think this week does not count!

The last round of the student progress reports are currently been completed as well as the teacher judgements in line with the Victorian Curriculum Standards. Student’s summative assessment grades and teacher judgements will then be collated and pushed through to an end of semester report format. Student feedback on the actual summative task is provided through the learning Tasks module in Compass. 

Staffing continues to have its challenges across the entire education system, including our college. We have advertised once again the unfilled vacancies and hope to fill these ready for the new semester.

End of Semester Reports

End of semester reports will be available to download from Compass for students and parents from Monday, July 15th 2024 (first day of Term 3 2024). 

• Reports will include a list of major assessment tasks for each subject, a description of the task and overall level awarded.
• They will include a percentage of attendance for each subject, a graph of student work habits in each class, and a teacher judgement rating for the student against the Victorian Curriculum state-wide five point scale for students in Years 7-10.
• There will be no descriptive comments included as these have been previously recorded on learning tasks saved to Compass as each task was completed throughout the semester.

It is important to remember that student reports provide students, teachers and parents with a clear and concise picture of a student’s achievement and progress at a point in time. Teachers make informed and consistent decisions about student progress against the achievement standards using a variety of assessments and observations to inform their judgement. They map the student’s learning against the achievement standards, and place the student on the learning continuum, that best reflect the student’s level of performance and progress.

The Victorian Curriculum is structured as a single developmental learning continuum and is organised by levels not years of schooling. The curriculum consists of Towards Foundation Levels A to D and Levels Foundation to 10. All curriculum areas have achievement standards, describing what students are able to understand and do. All students progress along the learning continuum at their own rate and from their own starting point. Teachers provide learning opportunities to support the learning for all students, including those students with additional learning needs or a disability. 

I encourage all parents and guardians to read through the reports, and discuss with your children how they have gone, and what they can do in Term 3 to improve. Regardless of how good the report is, there are always things which can be improved.

Careers and Curriculum Planning

The college will begin the course counselling process for students in Years 9 – 11 students in Term 3 like we undertook in 2023. The revised model, using a pathways approach, will continue to be used in 2024. As part of the model, interviews will continue to be held for 20 minutes and some interviews for a year level to be included outside of normal school hours. Information evenings will occur for parents and students in Weeks 2 Term 3 as well as pre-planning workshops with students in Weeks 1 and 2 Term 3. Interviews will be held in Weeks 3 and 4 of Term 3.

The Headstart Initiative will continue in 2025. We have agreed for 2025, VCE:VM students will be offered to move into the Headstart Initiative but it will entail students commencing VCE: VM firstly at the beginning of 2025. VCE students will continue to not be recommended to move into the Headstart Program at this stage until the program is further implemented in line with the new VCE model. We will have a number of students transitioning into Headstart this year. We are also going to continue to trial a number of students in Year 10 commencing Headstart in 2025.

Student Success

Congratulations to 3 of our VET students Arian Abazi, Aaron Craik and Julian Russi who were winners of the Tool Box competition run by AGA.  These students attended VET for the first 4 weeks (during the month of February) at AGA.

Congratulations to our former student, Christopher Mitrevski, who has been selected to represent Australia in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris this July.

Christopher will be involved in Track and Field - Long Jump. Be sure to follow this young talent. We wish him the very best for the games and we are very proud of his achievements.

And finally...

As the cold weather has begun, please make sure that your child has the warm winter uniform – jumper, jacket, long pants, winter skirt, and long sleeve tops. Please note that tracksuit pants, hoodies and other non uniform tops  must not be worn at school, or on the way to or from school.  A reminder the on-campus uniform store trades every Wednesday afternoon from 3:15pm - 5:00pm in L4. Entry is via the side gate in the main car park. We greatly appreciate your support in ensuring that your child is in full uniform. If you need assistance with this, please contact your child’s Year Level Leader.

Danny Dedes

On behalf of the Principal Class

Rick Hudson, Sasha Mildenhall and Louisa Norwood.