Acting Principal Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

I hope that this newsletter finds you very well! 

This week we are all getting the hang of being in ‘2025’ mode! Headstart has given all of us the opportunity to work with different students, different colleagues, and different timetables. Thank you for your patience whilst we navigate this exciting time, and also whilst we have ironed out any final changes that have needed to occur as we transition the whole school into the next year of their Mordialloc College journey. 

Awards Night 2024: 

On Monday 2nd December we held our Awards Night at the Frankston Arts Centre; this is a lot earlier in the year than on previous occasions but, acting on feedback from families around location and parking, we chose the latest date that they had to offer and I know those who were able to attend will agree, we had an amazing evening at a fabulous location.

The evening was a wonderful celebration of our students’ commitment to Personal Best. 

We had the opportunity to celebrate student successes in a variety of areas such as Academic Excellence, Achievement Endeavour, the Arts and Technology, Sport, and Community involvement. High quality entertainment was also provided by students in the areas of Music and Drama. My thanks must go to Tom Facey, Jasmine Vermeer, Miranda Wilson, Tracey Bastin and Diane Krosby for all their work in putting the evening together for us, and to all my teaching staff who all had an allocated role on the night to ensure that the event ran smoothly.

It was lovely to welcome back our 2023 VCE VM DUX Jessica House. In the 2023 Premier's VCE Awards, Jess was awarded for being an Outstanding VCE Vocational Major Student,   and has since worked with the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority to support them with their showcasing of  VCE VM across Victoria. In her speech, Jess spoke about her dreams of being a primary school teacher, and how her experience as a VCE VM student at Mordialloc College had supported her on that journey.  A big thanks to Jess who continues to support the school, we really appreciate her spending the evening with us.

Our School Captains, Isabelle Vicendese and Antonio Marques Vaz Serra were our MCs for the night and did a terrific job of introducing staff, students and members of the wider school community to the stage to celebrate our 2024 Awards Night winners. Alongside Will Fleming and Zoe McPherson, they also gave their final speeches in their capacity as Mordialloc College Captains.

We have shared many celebrations of student success throughout the year but Awards Night is for those students who have excelled in their academic studies, in their sporting endeavours, in their community spirit, and in their artistic contributions.

I would like to give a special mention to our 2024  DUX of each year level; as this information is  only revealed on the night, these students  were not named in the program!

Year 7 Dux – Ruilin Zhang

Year 8 Dux – Benjamin Roberts

Year 9 Dux – Ingrid Heins

Year 10 Dux – Tallain Connell

Year 11 Dux – Celestine Debargue-Tamai

Year 12 VM Dux – Jade Tsiros

We will know who our 2024 VCE DUX is when the VCE results are released on December 12th. 

Year 12 Valedictory.

On 20th November we celebrated our Year 12 Valedictory Dinner at Cathies Lane Receptions in Wantirna South. With the exams in the not-too-distant past it was an opportunity for families, teachers, and students to come together and reflect on the past year, recognising the achievements of our Year 12 students, Class of 2024.

 Thanks to Year 12 YLC, Ms Angela Holloway and Year 12 VM coordinator Kodilee Strahan for their organisation of this event, and also a huge round of applause for the wonderful students who led the entire evening, Piri Faid and Alex Healy. The night included speeches, a farewell from our outgoing captains Isabelle Vicendese and Antonio Marques Vaz Serra, an amazing presentation (created by Sophia Mastorakos, Charlotte Kypriotis and Sienna Weare) that showed every student with their current school photo, their Year 7 photo, and where they see themselves in 5 years’ time, formal academic awards (academic excellence and achievement-endeavour) and, the presentation of a commemorative Venture 2024 magazine. The evening was closed off with a video showcasing photos of our departing Year 12 students’ journey through Mordialloc College over the last six years. Lots of good luck to them, we really do wish them all the very best in their future endeavours. 

Headstart 2025

Headstart got off to a great start, the students really were keen to move up a year, meet their 2025 teachers, and get on with navigating their 2025 timetable and new classes. The idea of a ‘new start’ is really powerful to students and, in our first assembly together, we shared the importance of our Mordialloc College values as a part of making good choices that encompass kindness (Responsibility), courage (Integrity), curiosity (Respect), and putting your best self out there (Personal Best).

Mobile Phones

We knew we needed to be tighter in this space, and as a staff we had observed the negative impact of devices on how students interacted with each other outside of the classroom.

In the weeks leading up to Headstart, Mr Cummins shared research around the positive impacts of the mobile phone ban, reached out to families to ensure locker security was a priority, designed posters to support the conversation around the mobile phone ban, worked with the canteen to transition them into a phone-free space, and supported staff with the processes around supporting the initiative.

The impact has been quite transformational: an 80% drop in mobile phone confiscations in one week, students talking and playing together at recess and at lunch, shorter queues at the canteen as students have pre-booked their food via the QKR app, and lockers being more diligently locked throughout the school day. 

A big thanks to Mr Cummins for his hard work with this and, a huge thanks to families who have supported us in creating a much more pleasant space for our students to thrive.

Staffing

Due to staffing spaces created by staff going part-time or onto Family Leave, we have employed Karmen Cataldo (Maths and Science), Amanda Keen (Learning Specialist (Instructional Coach: VCE Psychology and VCE VM Numeracy) and Gunjan Behl (Maths) who all joined us for HeadStart 2025. A big welcome to Mordialloc College!

Year 6 Transition Day

Our new Year 6 students will be joining us on Tuesday 10th December to meet their new classmates, spend time with their 2025 teachers, get to know the layout of the college and master the use of their new locker and lock! On the day, there will be lots of ‘getting to know you’ activities that will be supported by our current Mordialloc College students, and a BBQ lunch; I have my apron and tongs ready to help!

As a part of the transition process, Brenden McFarland, Jo Hannon, Julie Pretty and Sarah Terry have been out to all primary schools: it is important to us that we do everything we can to make this move into Mordialloc College as smooth as possible and, we will have some students coming in to do extra transition days with us over the next two weeks.

Department resources for a new year of learning 

A new year of learning: Information and resources for parents and carers to help their children unlock their potential for a new year of learning in 2025.

I hope that you all have a wonderful fortnight.

Rachael Stone

Acting Principal