From the Principal

Hello everyone, 

Next week we begin a new academic year at Mornington Secondary College. Welcome to Fast Forward! In our ongoing commitment to providing the best possible experience, we continue to start the academic year a bit earlier, so students ease into the learning environment, giving them the opportunity to feel more prepared and connected to their studies right from the beginning. 

We believe that this adjustment will contribute to a smoother transition, setting a positive tone for the school year. 

As we commence this school year, we would like to take a moment to remind everyone about some essential school policies that contribute to a positive and effective learning environment: 

Uniform Policy: We kindly ask that all students adhere to the school uniform guidelines. A neat and consistent appearance fosters a sense of pride and unity within our school community. 

Punctuality: Timeliness is crucial for a smooth and productive school day. Please ensure that your child arrives promptly in the morning, ready to engage in the day's activities commencing at 8.55am. 

Class Attendance: Being in class on time is vital for optimal learning. Encourage your child to be punctual and prepared for each lesson to maximise their educational experience. 

Toilet Breaks: To maintain a structured learning environment, we request that students take advantage of designated breaks for restroom use during recess and lunch. This helps minimise disruptions during class time. 

By reinforcing these policies, we aim to create a positive and focused learning environment that benefits every student. We appreciate your cooperation in supporting these expectations.

We eagerly anticipate farewelling the wonderful year we've had and embracing the exciting prospects that Fast Forward holds as we approach 2024. 

We look forward to a year filled with achievements, discoveries, and memorable experiences. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to our school office. 

Thank you for your commitment to Mornington Secondary College and let's make this academic year a great success together! 

Linda Stanton 

Linda Stanton

Principal

Important Dates

NOVEMBER

24/11/23 | Student free day

27/11/23 | VCE Launch Night 6pm-7pm

27/11/23 | Fast Forward commences

29/11/23 - 1/12/23 | MSC Art Show

DECEMBER

08/12/23 | Last day for Year 10 and Year 11 students

11/12/23 | Presentation Evening

12/12/23 | Orientation Day 2024 Year 7 students

20/12/23 | Last Day of school for 2023

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Middle School

Dear parents and guardians,

Congratulations to our students on reaching the next year level!  The student’s dedication to learning is commendable. I wish every student continued success and growth in the coming academic year.

It has been a great week! I was invited to the 7B Japanese class and was fortunate enough to congratulate the students who reached level 8 in the Hiragana Quiz.  This is a fantastic achievement. Please read Ms Kugimiya’s report below.

Year 8s have had a busy week with several outings. Today they had fun at the beach playing cricket, swimming, and enjoying a sausage sizzle. The student behaviour was exemplary, and all the students enjoyed swimming and having fun in the water. Prior to this, the Year 8 students had their year level assembly and it was lovely to present awards acknowledging their efforts.

The Year 9 cohort had their final assembly yesterday after their locker move and BBQ lunch. They had a fantastic assembly and so many students were recognised for their learning growth. We had some fun awards too! They included “the student most likely to be a millionaire” and “the student most likely to be on a TV show” and “the student most likely to be a school principal”. Again, the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves. 

I have just returned from our Year 7 assembly and the noise level is a little louder than the older year levels! They were so excited when Ms Reeman started spinning the wheel for the birthday prize! It is amazing to see how much our young people grow and change in the course of a year!

I would like to thank my wonderful coordinators and teachers who organise all of these events to celebrate our students.

Wishing you a great week

Denise Leggett

Middle School Assistant Principal

Senior School

To students and families of the Mornington Senior School,

By the time this goes to print, our students will have finished in their current year of schooling and will next week begin their 2024 academic year, which will provide all students a chance to develop a strong sense of connectedness and start to build positive relationships with their peers and 2024 teachers. We look forward to welcoming the class of 2026 to the Senior School and know that their increased maturity and desire to achieve their personal best will hold them in good stead for 2024 and beyond. 

Our Year 11 VCE VM students have finished their first year with their interview schedule and I was privileged to sit in on a couple of fantastic interviews. Below this you will read about them in more detail. I loved seeing what our VM students are capable of doing and hearing about their success in and outside the classroom.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank my 2023 Senior School team for their hard work and dedication to the students in the Senior School. To Year 12 leader Scott Kirkby, Year 11 leader Dr Jasmine Keough, Year 10 leader Mr Jake Uhlenberg, coordinators Alex Malligan and Jennifer Rolls at Year 10, Mick Williams and Amber Taylor at Year 11, Victoria Milner and Evangeline Romage at Year 12, to the careers & pathways team - Michaeli Lyon, Teena Borshoff and assisted by Alison Betts, Applied Learning Leader Rebecca Slater and last but not in any way least, the Senior School ES support who also had to double as my PA and our VASS administrator, Geraldine Carter. These people have put tireless hours into the support of our Senior School students throughout the year and have gone above and beyond to maximise their educational (and often personal) outcomes.

At Mornington Secondary College, we believe in the power of collaboration between parents, students, and educators. Your presence at the VCE Launch Night is not only encouraged but highly valued. We look forward to your participation and to collectively fostering a positive and enriching VCE experience for our students. 

See you at 5:45pm for a sausage!

Kind regards,

Nick Evans

Senior School Assistant Principal

“The times they are a changin!”

We are really looking forward to Monday when our 2024 academic year kicks off. There are a few things which have changed.  We have lengthened all periods, except period one to 60min, an “Hour of Learning Power”!  Period one is 65 min and will take the place of our current connect program.  Students will have the same teacher every morning for period one with the same subject. For example Year 11 Chemistry will be taught everyday period one. 

One session a week will be our full connect session where students will focus on all sorts of different things from how to study effectively through to how to help a friend who might be struggling. This connect session will also be period one and will be with their period one teacher.  The goal of this is that every student in the school will have a significant teacher who they see every morning.  We will be asking these connect teachers to make contact with families and this will provide an excellent first point of contact for parents. 

Our 2024 School timetable

Kind regards,

Mike Parker

Assistant Principal

Year 7 Japanese - Hiragana Quizzes

In Terms 2 & 3, students in 7B participated in weekly Hiragana Quizzes attempting to ‘level-up’ from Level 1 to Level 8.

Students who achieved 80% + on the weekly quiz levelled up to the next level.

Each of the levels represents a region of Japan and students received a sticker of a decorative manhole cover that is famous in that region to stick onto their personal map. The goal was to (virtually) travel from the North to the South of Japan, collecting stickers as you go.

It has been a great visual differentiation activity, where students work at their own point of challenge to make their way from North to South. You can learn a little more about ‘drainspotting’ in Japan here

THREE outstanding 7B students, Donna Watson, Charlie Begley and Benji Wallace, exceeded all expectations and consistently scored 80%+ in each level! 

In today’s lesson, we invited Ms.Leggett to present the students with their prize. A calligraphy brush and special water-calligraphy fabric which the students can use and re-use to practise writing their Japanese characters. They also received a bottle of Ramune – similar to lemonade, but in a fancy bottle!

Keep up the great work in Year 8 Japanese!

Year 9 and 10 Japanese

Recently the Year 9 and 10 Japanese students attended a lunchtime excursion to Pika Sushi on Main Street Mornington. This gave them an opportunity to learn more about washoku (the food of Japan), to sample some new dishes and to practice their Japanese grammar and vocabulary related to dining at a restaurant. The students had a great experience, and made their Japanese teachers very proud. 

Student Responses to Japanese Restaurant Excursion:  

We walked to Pika Sushi on Friday to have authentic Japanese food. I ordered a plate of salmon nigiri and a prawn sushi platter and they were both delicious. There was a drink called Ramune which was also really good.   

Mitssy Year 9 

We walked to Pika Sushi from Mornington Secondary College. The weather was super hot but it was worthwhile for the food. We tried new foods and drinks such as Ramune; a fizzy drink with melon flavour and I ordered a teriyaki bowl. Everyone tried to use chopsticks which was successful for me. Overall a good experience.  

Sky Year 9  

Pika Sushi was a surprising delight. I didn’t even know it was there in Main Street when I visited Pika Sushi. I had a dragon roll sushi and a tofu veggie sushi roll and they were so therapeutic to eat. The dragon roll sushi was so cool to look at. Just so much love and care put into it.  I think this restaurant excels at being a place to snack at that doesn’t break the bank. Friendly staff, affordable prices, cool Japanese vibes. It’s solid. Would go there again.  

David Year 9 

日本のレストランはたのしかったです。チキンかつべんとうボクスをたべました。 

はしでたべました。はしはときどきやさしかった、ときどきむずかしかったです。 

ピカすしがすきです。ピカすしのたべものはとてもおいしいです。 

The Japanese restaurant was fun. I ate a Chicken Katsu Bento Box. I ate with chopsticks. The chopsticks were sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. I like Pika Sushi. Pika Sushi’s food is very delicious.  

Jack Year 9  

Genetics performance task

We looked at predicting offspring using the alleles and genotypes of two given parents to produce the offspring and then using their phenotype, create a model of children.

VCE VM end-of-semester interview recap by Diane Parkinson (Learning Specialist and VM teacher)

Congratulations to all the Year 11 VCE Vocational Major students who have been doing their end of year presentations. The presentations have highlighted the great work our students are doing both within the classroom, at their VET programs and at their work placements. 

Throughout the presentations we have listened to the students share their passion about the Vocational Education Training (VET) programs they are participating in. These vary from electrotechnology, carpentry, animal studies, visual arts, sport and recreation through to hair and beauty and many more.  

Alongside their VET programs, students are also attending work placements one day a week. For many students this has been an amazing experience of learning on the job. For some students, they have enjoyed the challenges they have faced being ‘at work’ whereas for others, getting up at 5am to be on a worksite by 7am has been difficult. Just about all the students acknowledged the confidence they have gained by going to a work placement each week and have really appreciated the training and guidance they have been given by their employers and workmates. The work placements have varied from engineering firms, childcare centres, animal shelters, hair salons, building sites, primary schools and gyms.  

Students have also presented about the work they have been doing at school in their literacy, numeracy, personal development skills and work-related skills subjects. 

For Numeracy, Students shared a maths game they created and how they altered the game to included numeracy skills. 

For Literacy, students had researched an issue and they presented both sides of the debate for that issue and then presented their own opinion. The topics were varied. Several of the students researched about the Israel-Palestine conflict and began to understand the complexities of the current conflict. Other students looked at the Ukraine war and highlighted the human impact this war has had on the families living in Ukraine. Other students researched more local issues including homelessness, the impact of drugs and animal cruelty. 

For Personal Development Skills, students talked about communities they are involved in and how these communities support them to develop as individuals and how these communities support the wider community. Students shared their involvements with horse riding clubs, football, netball and soccer clubs, the Victorian Land Rovers owner club and many more. 

The highlight of each session was the students Shark Tank Work-related Skills idea. Some of the ideas were practical whereas some of the other ideas … were a bit crazy. It was great to see the initiative of some groups and the detail they put into their ‘pitch’. Well done for the following ideas: 

• An innovative idea that will remove fences using a jack. We can’t give you any more details as the student is planning to create this as a product. Good luck!! 
• Steady sailing – a boat that will be calm on even rough days and avoid people getting seasickness. 
• Story time with scented books and ASL hand signals to help children with their imagination and also students with varying abilities. 
• Viper Safety – sunglasses that are safe to wear on worksites. 
• Wiper glasses – glasses that have a wiper for when it rains. 
• A ‘Torta fridge’ – has solar panels so the fridge charges itself and also turns into a foot stool. 
• The Fortnite battle bucket (you’ve guessed it – a bucket that can be used to ensure a person doesn’t have to leave their Fortnite game to even go to the toilet!) 

Well done and we look forward to seeing you in Year 12 during Fast Forward starting on Monday 27 November. For those students who have got an apprenticeship and will be leaving us – we wish you all the best.  

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