Sydenham Campus
Principal Message
Welcome back to a very busy Term 2, lots of incursions, excursions, guest speakers and special visitors!
Farewell to Mrs Karen Martin-at the end of last term we said ‘goodbye’ to Karen, our Year 9/10 Campus Leader. Karen has been a long serving staff member of the College on the Sydenham Campus. Karen held several leadership roles in both the junior and senior teams, and she contributed valuable ideas and expertise on many committees, working parties and College Council. Karen will be at Staughton College as an Assistant Principal until the end of the year, and we wish her every success in this new position.
Welcome Ms Faryal Niazi- Faryal is our new Year 9/10 Campus Leader on the Sydenham Campus. Faryal has also been a member of our College teaching staff across all campuses with experience and leadership positions as a Science Key Learning Area Leader and as a Learning Specialist. Faryal will be working with Mr Singh (K Team) and Ms Cakovska (B Team) for the remainder of the year.
Year 7 Zoo excursion and Camp
Our Year 7 students have continued their transition to secondary school with a Science based excursion to the Melbourne Zoo. Students had a great day investigating animal habitats and behaviours. This week Year 7 students have also been at Camp.
They have had the opportunity to work together with their peers on team challenges and meet their Year 7 Kings Park counterparts.
Thank you to Mr Hasip for leading the organisation and running of the camp for the Sydenham students, and to Ms Ferreira, Mr Concepcion, Ms Malagoli Ms Altas, Mr Duerkop and Mr Mollaj for attending and supporting the camp and students.
Year 10 Delahey Experience and Pat Cronin Presentation
Year 10 students have begun their Transition journey to the Delahey Senior Campus with an information session led by College captains across both the Sydenham and Kings Park campuses. Thank you to Delahey Student Management Leadership and Emma and Mariam for their insights, and advice to be successful on the senior campus. Students and their families are invited to the Year 10 Pathways Information Evening on Thursday 29/05 at the Delahey Campus to continue to explore Pathway options.
Year 10 students also participated in a presentation by the Pat Cronin Foundation, facilitated by Alan Latu.
Alan’s message of ‘violence is never OK’ resonated with our students, who made a commitment to speak up and look out for each other.
Big Brother Big Sister Scholarships
We were very honoured to attend the BBBS annual fundraiser recognising current alumni, late last term. Our students were excellent ambassadors for the College. We look forward to many more opportunities where their talents can be recognised and encouraged.
Visit from the Honourable Natalie Hutchins
Last week we were very pleased to host our local State Member of Parliament, the Honourable Natalie Hutchins. Natalie has always been a strong supporter of the College and her visits to the Sydenham campus are highlights. The Minister visited several Challenge Day classes and shared her knowledge about election campaigns, which was very valuable for the Year 9 students who are preparing for their own ‘mini elections’ as part of the Challenge Day curriculum.
Thank you to our Student Campus Leaders who participated in a round table discussion with the Minister, by sharing their ideas and suggestions.
Our Term 2 Curriculum Day theme of Purposeful Planning involved a wonderful keynote from Andrew Fuller on the Learning Brain.
Andrew has been a long-time supporter of the College and his presentations are always thoughtful, relevant and well received. We also delved into the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 and continued to work on how this complements our Copperfield instructional model and School Wide Positive Behaviours (SWPBS). The day was capped off by staff wellbeing sessions.
Sister School Visit- in August we will be hosting staff and students from our Japanese Sister School- Fuji Junior High School.
Students from last year’s trip presented to families and students who attended an information evening. Our visitors will be arriving on 7/08 and departing 12/08. We are looking for families to host a student and Expressions of Interest are available from each of the campus offices. Thank you to Mr Todorovski, Ms Van Oursow and Mr Laba for their ongoing work on preparing for this visit.
Student Led Presentations (SLPs) 3/09/25
Students on both junior campuses are preparing for their SLPs to be held later in Term 3. Thank you to Julia Portelli for presenting her Year 8 SLP to staff as an exemplar to support them in supporting their students.
2025 is the 20th Anniversary of the original SLPs and we thank Ms Jayaram and Ms Dolu for their work in preparing the documents to support SLPs as an avenue to highlight student voice and agency.
We look forward to more wonderful teaching and learning on our campus as the Term progresses.
Mr. Andrew Atherton and Ms. Mary Chiodo
Campus Principals- Sydenham