Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

I write this as we near the end of a busy Term 1, with still a few major activities yet to occur, we have really made the most of this first part of 2025. This week we had our Semester 1 Parent Teacher Interviews, and I really do want to thank everyone who attended the nearly 4000 interviews that occurred throughout the day; we know that the success of our students has fantastic relationships with our families at its core.

As you read this newsletter, all of our staff will be on site engaging in a Professional Learning day that focuses on evolving our pedagogical understanding, and also on ensuring that all staff are well versed in Child Safe practices: a big thank you to Aaron Davis (Assistant Principal) and Simon Cummins (Assistant Principal) for leading that day.

The last day of term will go out with a bang as we take part in our Athletics Carnival. I will be wearing Yerlonga blue and I encourage all students to come along dressed in their house colours and costumes to add to the wonderful atmosphere we always have on this day. Thanks to our Sports Coordinator, Cory Watters for his organisation of this event, which is always very popular with the students and staff alike.

Leadership Induction Whole School Assembly

On Tuesday 18th March, it was an absolute pleasure to formally recognise our students who have been successful in achieving a leadership position on the Mordialloc College Student Council for 2025.

A big thank you to the Honourable Mark Dreyfus KC, MP and Tim Richardson MP for their inspiring words at our Whole School Leadership assembly. It was a pleasure to have them join me with the presentation of the leadership badges and certificates. Julia Hockey, Director of Student Engagement, did a wonderful job organising and leading the assembly, along with our School Captains.

I congratulate all students who were prepared to nominate and go through our selection process, I am really looking forward to working closely with you all this academic year.

Mordialloc College Student Council 2025

College Captains: Catherine Cole and Eden Handfield

College Vice Captains: Auburn Hewet and Madison Sinn

Middle School Captain: Benjamin (Benny) Roberts

Middle School Vice Captains: Charlotte Ellem and George Horejsi

Committee Captains and Sub-Committee Members

Curriculum and Wellbeing Captains

Anoushka Jithesh, Elysium Nieuwoudt and Gia Hoang (Vincent) Lam

Sub-Committee Members:

Eden Handfield, Alber Tun, Penelope Gray, Ava Wilson, Emma Wright, Bryce Newton

Facilities and Environment Captain

Rebecca Dowling

Sub-Committee Members:

Jensen Srisuwan, Jamie Thai-Chan, Nathan Krummel, Marius Dekterev, Benny Roberts, Tiana Green, Eva Gladman and Jenny Thai-Chan

Promotion and Fundraising Captains

Kyle McDonald and Angela Mihas

Sub-Committee Members:

Auburn Hewet, Ethan Simons, George Horejsi, Ruilin Zhang, Suu Mon Naing, Sonny Rennison

The Arts Captains

Creative Arts: Romeo Davis and Kylie Wolfe

Performing Arts: Harrison Powell and Benjamin Woolridge

Sub-Committee Members:

Creative Arts: William Evans, Zander Howell, Poppy Brand and Niels Skands

Performing Arts: Lucy Beckett, Zoe McPherson, Rueben Selzer, Charlotte Ellem and Stephanie Davis

Sports Captain

Jaylen Cipriano

Sub-Committee Members:

Catherine Cole , Madison Sinn, Veron Prasad, Rory Nieuwoudt, Jake Stanguts and Quinn Van Twuiver

Year 12 House Captains

Kalura: Katie Brand, Jarhna Randell-McPherson and Adam Robinson

Yerlonga: Liliana Bell, Kate Hicks, Jules Ingram, Pyper McIntyre and Giorgia Vona

Iwala: Muireann Hynes and Chloe Payne

Bunurong: Chahd Bougatef, Natachia Murphy, Aliyah Prescott and Summer Smith

Richard Williams Scholarship

Congratulations to our recipients of the Richard Williams Scholarship.

Richard ‘Dick’ Williams was a Mordialloc College alum and an unsung local hero. He worked tirelessly for others, especially those in his beloved Mordialloc community.

After his passing in 2020, a few of his close mates got together to create a Scholarship Fund in his memory.

This Fund is an important part of his legacy, keeping Dick’s generosity of spirit alive. He would be proud to know that he continues to make a difference to people’s lives.

We thank Dick’s close friends and family for making this possible and presenting this to 2 of our 3 scholarship winners: Miller Benton, Emilia Ann Noetzel and Louis Shepard.

Captain’s End of Term Articles

College Captains and Vice Captains

Term 1 has been an amazing start to the 2025 school year with our Senior School up to some very exciting things. This term we had our Swimming Carnival with an impressive show of skill from our senior students not just in their swimming and diving, but also in their fabulous costumes and karaoke voices. Our leadership Assembly went off without a hitch and we celebrated all of our dedicated Senior students involved in MCSC.

Our Year 10s have been keeping themselves busy by organising their work experience for Term 2. They are now well under way and are submitting their forms and preparing themselves for a week of hard work to gain a better understanding of their potential future careers. To get a little more knowledge into what possible careers our Year 10s may be considering, Mordialloc College organised various events to make this process a bit easier. The "Gem in STEM" incursion had our Year 10’s learning about the different fields of engineering and in Week 7 our Year 10s travelled to Beaumaris Secondary College for the Careers EXPO where they learnt about career options especially focusing on TAFE opportunities. Some of our Year 10s went on some exciting excursions, such as our Year 10 Environmental Science class going to Werribee Zoo. Our Year 10s have been showing some amazing hard work this term and we are looking forward to them continuing with this attitude in Term 2.

This term has been busy for the Year 11s, it being their first year in VCE or VCE VM Pathway! Those doing a Unit 3/4 subject this year have likely completed their first SAC now, with subjects like PE, Business, Health, General Math, Biology and VCD completing their SACs over the last two weeks. The year 11s also competed in a senior school interschool sport day, playing sports like volleyball, basketball and futsal, the participation and effort seen throughout the day was outstanding. VCE Outdoor Ed has recently attended a school camp at Phillip Island and completed activities including kayaking and surfing. VM has also recently attended the F1 at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, watching races and learning about cars and their mechanisms. Overall it has been a busy term for the Year 11s especially with getting settled into their new VCE and VCE VM classes.

To start Term 1, the Year 12s had School of Fun come in on the first day of school to get us ready and motivated for a hard but fulfilling year. Year 12s have had a really busy Term 1 with lots of important things happening, such as our VCE-UP students’ first English SAC in Week 5, which was performed amazingly as all of our Year 12s showed their dedication and seriousness to their studies. We have also had many other important SACs and Topic Tests occurring throughout the term. Our VCE-UP students have been utilising our afterschool Wednesday study session, getting extra help when needed and using the Senior Centre as a place to have a good, focused study area. It’s not all been constant work though, our Year 12 students have had some amazing excursions to get all that learning they’ve been doing into a real world experience. Year 12 Environmental Science went to Werribee Zoo, Year 12 Media visited NEP studios, our Drama students went to Southbank Theatre and Art students went to NGV and other exhibitions in the city. Our VM students also got involved in the fun, going out on a surfing excursion! The Year 12s have really started this year off with a BANG! We hope the year 12s can continue this determination through the rest of the year.

We hope everyone has a safe and rejuvenating autumn break, and wish everyone who celebrates it, a Happy Easter. Looking forward to seeing all of our senior school students in Term 2 feeling fresh and ready for another great term ahead.

Thank you,

Eden, Catherine, Auburn and Madi.

Middle School Captain and Vice Captains

This term was full of excitement and amazing opportunities for our Middle school students.

The Year 7s made a smooth transition into high school, making new friends and settling into the rhythm of their new school, and even smashing out NAPLAN.

Year 8 were able to take a step forward in their education whilst also engaging in the school and community spirit, through activities like the House Swimming day and the House athletics day. Both of these year levels participated in inter-school sports, with students displaying the core school values of responsibility, respect, integrity and personal best whilst interacting with other schools and the wider community during their weekly sport sessions, as well as the super fun gala days.

The Year 9s were all very relieved after completing their final NAPLAN tests, and enjoyed the freedom of being able to pick their electives. The Outdoor Education students went on a jam packed camp to Anglesea and also spent a day at the Melbourne Cable Park/National Water Sports Centre. Some of the MEX classes interacted with their local surroundings and community in preparation for the city trip later in the semester.

Overall the Year 7 to Year 9 students had a vibrant start to the year, and we are looking forward to settling in, and seeing what the rest of 2025 has in store for us!

Benny, George and Charlotte

AGM and School Council

In the recent call for nominations for parent vacancies on School Council I am pleased to share that we received enough nominations to fill all School Council vacancies.

At the AGM held on Thursday 13th March, the following parents were elected to the School Council Executive:

School Council President – David Beckett
School Council Vice President – Danielle Harley
School Council Treasurer – Stuart Kerr

Thanks to Stuart Kerr who re-nominated for School Council as a parent representative and was duly elected. We welcomed new Parent members Tennille McGrath, Jeremy Kenner and David Beckett, and new Parent Community members Jamie Harris and Nicole Quaife to School Council. We had two nominations for the two DE positions on School Council: Simon Cummins and Aaron Davis were duly elected. We had two nominations for the vacant student positions on School Council: Eden Handfield (Year 12 School Captain) and Catherine Cole (Year 12 School Captain) were duly elected to School Council.

Alongside our School Captains, Suu Mon Naing (Year 8) has been nominated as a Student Community member.

I thank all members for their commitment to Mordialloc College.

Can I please say a massive thank you to our outgoing members of council, Jason, Jenny, and Amelia. Mordialloc College really does appreciate their valuable contributions and service over this time.

I really do hope that you have an amazing break with all of your favourite people. I will be away for a few days camping; fingers crossed for some dry weather for us all!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday April 22nd.

Rachael Stone

Principal

Wellbeing Supports Update