PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

WELCOME

It is with great pleasure that I welcome back our fantastic staff, students and families as we commence another academic school year, and I extend a very special welcome to our new families for 2024. 

It’s always a wonderful feeling to walk through our corridors and feel the buzz of the students as they acquaint themselves with their new classes, teachers and surroundings. 

I know this will be a successful year for our community, and I look forward to getting to know our new students and families whilst continuing to support current families through their child’s secondary education. 

STUDENT LEADERSHIP 

It was a pleasure to introduce the 2024 Captains at our first whole school assembly today. These students have demonstrated exceptional qualities and dispositions over many years, and I wish them all the very best in undertaking these leadership roles. 

I congratulate them all and know they will serve our community with pride. 

SENIOR SCHOOL LEADERS

School Captains  

Gisele Hennequin & Jack Sweeney

Deputy School Captains 

Chloe Apps, Bo Fox, James Kay & Adem Savran

HOUSE CAPTAINS

Chisholm Captains

Jasper Boag, Lani Hammam, Indiana 

Harrison & Luke Kennedy

Flynn Captains

Bo Fox, Rajit Kalra, Kyla Peel & Senin Seymour 

Gilmore Captains

Sofia Atchison, Flynn Howe, Ori Landau & Edward Sanad

Monash Captains

Lily Baldwin, Hannah Foran, Jack Gale & Kane Vaughan         

MUSIC CAPTAINS

Chisholm Captains

Lani Hammam, Alex Kuehn (absent), Will Pendlebury & Adrian Wan

Flynn Captains

Anthony Kostelac, Tonya Mikhaylova, Elinor Roif & Elizabeth Wharton

Gilmore Captains

Sasha Finn, Gisele Hennequin, Jack Sweeney & Myra Tan

Monash Captains

Isabella Ding, Bhanuka Dissanayake, Kirra Irving & Phoebe Rodda

2024 EAST CAMPUS SCHOOL LEADERS

School Captains

Eden Sullivan & Mateo Capurro Martinez

Deputy School Captains

Kiara Naidoo, Pearl Olaye, Solomon Batkilin & Alexandru Virbanescu

East Campus Council President

Isabella Dekarta

HOUSE CAPTAINS

Chisholm Captains

Sophie Kay & Alex Bridges

Chisholm Vice Captains

Maliah Murphy & Chinthya Sridhar

Flynn Captains

Matilda Kelleher & Jackson Torres

Vice Flynn Captains

Ruby Johnston-Allen & Zac Finnigan

Gilmore Captains

Emma McArthur & Harvey Venturini

Vice Gilmore Captains

Mansi Kashyap & Jayvier Yang

Monash Captains

Alisa Krivulin & Asher Gordon

Vice Monash Captains

Ariella Liberman & Finn Asbreuk

YEAR 12 CAMP

It was fabulous to join the Year 12s at Phillip Island for their final school camp on Monday. This camp is so important in setting the tone for the year ahead, with key sessions on goal setting, study techniques, wellbeing and pathways beyond school and it bookends their Year 7 camp which was also at Phillip Island.

Although it was only one night, the students connected with each other, and had fun with the team building activities.  

I thank the APs Kellie Felmingham, Head of Year Level Kate Jobson and Student Managers Chris Hudd, Helen James and Dan Blackmore for their fantastic organisation and support of this important camp. I also thank all the staff who were in attendance to ensure the success of the program. Well done to all involved!

YEAR 7 INDUCTION AND PEER SUPPORT

The Peer Support Program provides a unique opportunity for our Year 7 students to build new friendships, develop skills to support their journey in secondary school and have dedicated mentors to turn to whilst settling into the McKinnon community. 

The Year 10 Peer Support Leaders have an opportunity to develop and build valuable lifelong skills in leadership. I’m pleased to report that the Peer Support Leaders have stepped into their new roles with much enthusiasm and dedication. It has been a pleasure to see students at both Years 7 and 10 building positive relationships, developing new skills whilst having a great time together.  

Thank you to Zoe Murdoch and all the Peer Support teachers for delivering this very important program to assist Year 7 transition and provide Year 10 students with leadership experience. 

TOMORROW MAN/WOMAN

On Friday 2 February, our Year 12 cohort were privileged to have the Tomorrow Man/Tomorrow Woman workshops on site. Students spent 90 minutes unpacking a variety of themes such as addressing fear, judgments, and banter's impact on culture and identity. These sessions created a safe space for self-reflection and personal growth. Students were brave in speaking their truth in a small space. These sessions were highly engaging, relatable and immersive learning journeys, training our young people how to walk their own path, talk with gravity and engage actively, with purpose, in all areas of their lives. It's been a wonderful start to the Year 12 journey here at McKinnon Secondary College.

Thank you to the Tomorrow Man/Woman staff for creating this shared space. Patty Etcell, Kellie Felmingham, Kate Jobson and the Year 12 student management team for their organisation of this event and thanks to Jessica Dixon, Daniel Farthing, Brett Howe, Fiona Wallis, Delmar Zachest for supervision of these sessions.

NOTICE OF ELECTION AND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 

Nomination forms for the School Council elections are now available from the General Office at both campuses. Included in this newsletter are links with information for students wishing to nominate. Nominations are being called for two DE employees and one student member. Anyone with any queries regarding School Council Elections are welcome to contact me at school.  Closing date for the return of nomination forms is Friday 16 February at 4.00pm. 

PARTNERSHIP IN EDUCATION

Thank you to our incredible parents and carers for assisting students to be organised, punctual and in full uniform.

Creating strong partnerships between parents and staff is part of the key to success at McKinnon. Knowing that families can be relied upon to attend events such as concerts, drama nights, information evenings as well as keeping up to date with school information such as reading the newsletter, and Compass feeds will ensure you keep informed and up to date with all relevant events.

We value these quality relationships and I know that students greatly benefit from knowing they are supported.

This all contributes to student success and building strong relationships and I thank everyone for your support.

TRAFFIC – SCHOOL ZONE SPEED LIMITS

Please be careful when driving along McKinnon Road and South Drive and be aware of street signs and adhere to road rules. These areas get very congested and at times this can be dangerous. 

The school car park must not be accessed by parents during school hours. Please ask your child to meet you away from the relevant campus to ease congestion.

The speed limit is always 40km per hour along McKinnon Road and U-turns are not allowed. We have many students riding bikes so please be careful parking and opening doors.

I would also like to remind students riding bikes that from the age of 13, you are required to ride your bike using the bike lane on the road. Please do not ride on the footpath. Riding a bike on the footpath can cause significant danger to both pedestrians and riders. Please always wear a helmet.

Glen Eira Council has created a short, animated video that explains parking signs, how the school crossing operates and aims to promote safety surrounding our schools.  It encourages students to walk or ride to school too, even if only from a few blocks away, to help ease traffic congestion, improve healthy activity and to help the environment. You can view the video here.

SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLMENT PRIVACY COLLECTION STATEMENT (PRIVACY INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND CARERS)

During the ordinary course of your child’s attendance at our school, school staff will collect your child’s personal and health information when necessary to educate your child, or to support your child’s social and emotional wellbeing or health. Such information will also be collected when required to fulfil a legal obligation, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law. If that information is not collected, the school may be unable to provide optimal education or support to your child or fulfil those legal obligations.

For example, health information may be collected through the school nurse or wellbeing staff member. If your child is referred to a specific health service at school, such as a Student Support Service Officer, or school-engaged psychologist, the required consent will be obtained.

Our school may use online tools, such as apps and other software, to effectively collect and manage information about your child for teaching and learning purposes, parent communication and engagement; student administration; and school management purposes.  When our school uses these online tools, we take steps to ensure that your child’s information is secure. If you have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact us.

School staff will only share your child’s personal or health information with other staff who need to know to enable the school to educate or support your child or fulfil a legal obligation.

When our students transfer to another Victorian government school, personal and health information about that student will be transferred to that next school. Transferring this information is in the best interest of our students and assists that next school to provide optimal education and support to students.

In some limited circumstances, information may be disclosed outside of the school (and outside of the Department of Education and Training). The school will seek your consent for such disclosures unless the disclosure is allowed or mandated by law.

Our school values the privacy of every person. When collecting and managing personal and health information, all school staff must comply

with Victorian privacy law. For more information about privacy including about how to access personal and health information held by the school about you or your child, see our school’s privacy policy:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx 

Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, Student Support Service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners and all other staff at our school. This includes employees, agents and service providers of the Department, whether paid or unpaid.