Learning Specialist - Senior School Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

This week brings us to the middle of Term 3. Being only a 9 week term, it has already been jam packed with school based events, excursions and assessments. While it is a shorter term than usual there is still lots of time for students to make positive changes to improve their learning behaviours and academic skill before the end of term. 

What’s been happening around the school in the past week…

Book Week - fun events organised by the Creative Arts Committee, as well as a dress up day

Year 8 Medieval Day took place on Tuesday 12th August

Year 9 Morrisby Career Testing was completed on Wednesday 13th August

Year 12 French students competed in a speaking competition

Good luck to our Senior Boys Hockey team who are off to the STATE FINALS on Friday! Congratulations on your success so far, we look forward to hearing how you go. Thank you to Ms Bruce for sharing her expertise coaching the team. 

Progress Reports and Compass

I strongly encourage all students and families to look at the most recent progress reports available through Compass. Taking the time to reflect on current learning behaviours shown this semester and setting a goal in one area can lead to an improvement in academic achievement as well as overall educational experience. The upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences to be held on Wednesday 3rd September are a great way to gain further feedback on your child’s progress. 

All students and families should be able to see lesson plans on Compass using the Mordialloc College Instructional Model. This format has been introduced since the beginning of the 2025 academic year. If students are absent, Compass is the first place they should go to access any missed work. 

Professional Learning

Throughout 2025 Staff have engaged in a variety of different workshops to share best teaching practices and learn from each other. Staff choose which workshop they wish to participate in and then bring that information back to their Learning Area (e.g. Science) as well as their Professional Learning Community (PLC) to implement different teaching strategies to support their students. On Tuesday, staff engaged in workshops on elements of the instructional model (guided practice, independent practice and reflection/feedback), stimulating learning, Compass rubrics and Compass data analytics. Thank you to the presenters of the sessions. 

Senior School Update - A Learning Specialist’s Perspective

For families with students in their final years of secondary schooling, it is sometimes challenging to know how to support them. While the content they are learning might be different to your own area of expertise, having your child verbalise the subject content to you can help deepen their understanding. Any questions you may have, can assist them to use different vocabulary to explain a concept. Providing some study snacks can also help keep the energy up! Keeping the kitchen stocked with their favourite snacks might prevent them from procrastinating. And finally, a shared study timetable that is printed and placed somewhere visible means everyone informed of when it is study time. 

Term 3 is an exciting time in Senior School as the Year 12 VCE-Vocational Major (VM) students are lining up apprenticeships, employment opportunities and TAFE courses for as soon as they have finished - they are enthusiastic to take the next step in their chosen field. All students completing a Unit 3&4 study for VCE (University Pathway) are focusing on their final school based assessments which will take place over the next couple of weeks. After that, the students will switch gears and make the end of year exams their sole focus. Practice exams will take place for each subject in Week 9 - the final week of Term 3. Year 12 teachers will then provide students with valuable feedback on these practice exams so that they can refine their understanding, improve their exam technique and maximise their grade on the end of year exams. 

For Senior School students, as well as students in Middle School, Term 3 is a great time to visit a couple of University or TAFE Open Days. If you are not able to make an Open Day this year, using the Course Search on the VTAC website or exploring the specific websites of the different institutions can be a great place to start for students to think about and discuss their future career pathway. 

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the Senior School students and encourage them to put their best foot forward in relation to their academic studies and learning behaviours. Always try to do something today that your future self will thank you for. 

Amanda Keen

Learning Specialist - Senior School