Principal Team Welcome

Welcome to our new staff

Dear MC Community,

We hope you’ve had a good week, and appreciated the milder weather after the heat and Tuesday’s storm. Our thoughts go out to those still without power and encourage you to contact the school to keep us informed and let us know if we can assist with anything.

I hope Wednesday 14th was a special day for the community romantics. Did you know that it was also Library Lovers’ Day!? We certainly love our MC library and our library technician, Kathleen Robinson. As part of her support work to our students, Kathleen keeps the library open until 4.30pm every day, so we encourage our students to make use of this space for reading or homework completion and study at the end of the school day.

Staffing

Our new and celebrity staff have provided some biographical details for the community’s information in this special edition of Links. The vastly expanded Instrumental Music team has a significant presence, but Taylor Swift did not get hers in on time for publication ... 

Unfortunately, John Gardiner has resigned, so the school is again advertising for a Science / Maths teacher. As a consequence, there will be some class teacher changes, including:

• Trevor Barkla, our Leading Teacher – Head of Numeracy & Maths, will now teach the Year 12 Maths Methods class previously taught by John.

MC Swimming Carnival – REMINDER to provide Compass Consent by 4pm Monday 19th February

Parents / carers: Please provide consent in Compass for your child to attend the Swimming Carnival next Thursday 22nd February. All Event details can be found on Compass. A few quick final reminders:

• the event is casual dress with students reminded to be SunSmart and wear house colours;
• please bring & apply sunscreen;
• BYO food & drink with canteen facilities available;
• the normal mobile phone ban applies to all students between 8.50am and when students are dismissed back at school. Mobile phones that are seen by staff will be confiscated & returned to students when back at school;
• when students arrive at school at 8.30am, they are to assemble on the main Mitcham Road oval in their home group for roll marking & allocation to buses;
• any students without Compass parent consent will NOT be able to attend the carnival. This event will close at 4pm on Monday 19th February. No late parent permission will be accepted on the day;
• any students wishing to be dismissed from the Aquarena Pool at the conclusion of the day, will need to provide written parent consent and handed only to Mr McMillin or Mr Bray. This will only be accepted over the next week and prior to Thursday’s carnival. Notes will not be accepted at the pool.

Presentation Ball rehearsals

It has been one of many highlights this week to observe the 39 couples going through their paces, though the heat on Monday and Tuesday afternoon was trying … Our thanks to Lisa Larmour and Harriet Smitheram for making this opportunity a reality for our students.

Whole School Leadership Assembly – Year 7 Welcome, Year 12 acknowledgement, SRC/Leadership and Alumni

Thanks to the planning and management skills of Assistant Principal Jeff McMillin and Michael Bray, we were able to hold a whole-school assembly in Period 5 on Tuesday to celebrate our school community, the start of the school year and some special Mullauna cohorts. These were:

• All new students and staff;
• Our six BJR German exchange students from Bavaria in Germany;
• Our Year 7 students – as Mullauna tradition dictates, they entered the assembly to warm applause;
• Our Year 12 students – commencing their final and most crucial year (proudly wearing their shiny new ‘XII’ badges;
• And our alumni from 2023, whose academic and co-curricular achievements were outstanding.

VCE Parent Information evening

Our Senior Sub-school team presented key information to parents on Wednesday evening. Our thanks to Kim Watson, (Leading Teacher – Head of Senior School) and her team, Nik Smith (Careers & Pathways Leader), Bec Kimm (Year 12 Coordinator) and Amanda Leahy (Year 11 Coordinator), together with Tamsin Davidson (Leading Teacher – Head of Literacy) and students Keira Pontefract (School Captain) and Holly Dobell (Wellbeing Captain).

SRC launch

The four school captains (Alexia Anemikos, Camryn Dixon, Jack Fortington and Keira Pontefract) led the new SRC through a packed agenda in their first meeting on Thursday during the lunch break. They will be guided this year by Kathy Halpin in the SRC staff support role.

International Student Program welcome lunch

F3 was the venue for our traditional welcome lunch for our ISP students and their supporting teachers. Our thanks to Victor Lee for his work as our ISP Leader, and to Belinda Dowel, our Food Technician, for her catering prowess. Our ISP cohort continues to grow thanks to Victor’s guidance and the work of staff, especially our EAL teacher team of Naomi Jallais and Harriet Smitheram.

Year 7 BBQ and Instrumental Music 

It was a pleasure to mix with some many Year 7 students, parents, students and staff at last evening’s Year 7 BBQ and Instrumental Music evening. My thanks to:

• Elisabeth Waycott and her P&CA team for their assistance, especially with the bbq;
• our Foods team – no event is complete without them;
• Lisa Larmour, Laura Chiappa and the Junior School team with Jeff McMillin;
• Kathleen Robinson for running her very popular book stall (look out for it again at the Student Learning Conferences in Week 9);
• Peter Brodie and his Instrumental Music team;
• our wonderful student leaders and musicians.

The 2024 Mullauna College Leadership Team and School Improvement Team members

In the tables below, we have summarised for your information these two critical college teams. I look forward to working with them, and all other staff, both Education Support and Teachers, in order to deliver the best possible experience for our students at Mullauna College in 2024. At the core of our work will be Learning & Teaching, aimed at maximising the wellbeing, engagement and learning achievement outcomes of our students, through the broad range of classroom and co-curricular programs we offer. We will achieve this best when families support us in our work, and keep us informed of issues that are having an impact on their children.

The College Leadership Team

• Harry Ruff – Principal
• Jeff McMillin – Assistant Principal                     Resources & Facilities; Transition;                                                                                                  Student Services
• Michael Bray – Assistant Principal                     Learning & Teaching; College                                                                                                          Operations
• Daniella Taglieri – Leading Teacher                   Wellbeing & Engagement (Inclusion,                                                                                            Pathways, Sub-schools)
• Jacquie Brush – Leading Teacher                       Learning & Teaching
• Kim Watson – Leading Teacher                           Head of Senior School
• Trevor Barkla – Leading Teacher                         Numeracy & Mathematics
• Tamsin Davidson – Leading Teacher                  Literacy & English
• Monique Chisholm – Learning Specialist         Data & Improvement
• Naomi Jallais – Learning Specialist                     Literacy & EAL

School Improvement Team #1

This SIT focusses on our Learning Goal in the School Strategic Plan (SSP) and subsequent Annual Implementation Plans (AIP). It currently consists of Michael Bray, Jacquie Brush, Trevor Barkla, Tamsin Davidson, Monique Chisholm and Naomi Jallais.

School Improvement Team #2

This SIT focusses on our Wellbeing Goal in the SSP and AIP. It currently consists of Daniella Taglieri and Kim Watson, together with:

• Lisa Larmour – Head of Junior School
• Nathan Hughes – Marrung Lead teacher
• Nik Smith – Careers & Pathways Leader
• Helen Bowker – Inclusion Leader
• Erin Briedis – Wellbeing Leader

Both SITs have just concluded their work on developing the 2024 Annual Implementation Plan, which guides us in our school improvement work for this year. It will be submitted today to our SEIL, Eva McMaster, for her approval, and also to school council for its information. The AIP will be published to the college community once approval has been received and any feedback acted upon.

State schools – a supportive system

Mullauna has the pleasure and advantage of being part of the vibrant and supportive Riversdale state school network, consisting of all state primary and secondary schools in the Whitehorse and Boroondara local government areas.

Guiding and supporting us in our school improvement work are many regional staff, the most important of whom is our Senior Education Improvement Leader (or SEIL), Eva McMaster.

Head Start coordinator

Mullauna is also the base school for the local Head Start coordinator, Michael Harvey. Having Michael based here is a real advantage to our students and families, especially those undertaking the VCE VM and interested in pursuing a School-Based Apprenticeship.

Enjoy the weekend, and, if you were lucky enough to get tickets, the Taylor Swift experience. 

Warm regards,

Harry Ruff, Jeff McMillin and Michael Bray 

The MC Principal Team 

Warm regards,

Coming key dates: 

Friday 16th February – Year 9 Morrisby pathways testing

Tuesday 20th February – first 2024 school council meeting (on site)

Thursday 22nd February – House Swimming Carnival – no scheduled classes

Friday 23rd February – school tour

Friday 1st March – mid-term edition of Links published

Monday 4th March – group and catch-up photos

Monday 4th to Friday 8th March (Week 6) – Year 9 Morrisby pathways interviews

Monday 11th March – Labour Day public holiday (long weekend!)

Tuesday 19th March – School Council AGM & Meeting (on site)

Tuesday 26th March – Student Learning Conferences – no scheduled classes

Thursday 28th March – last day of Term 1 – normal 3pm dismissal

2024 Term Dates 

Term 1 - 29 January to 28 March 

Term 2 – 15 April to 28 June 

Term 3 – 15 July to 20 September 

Term 4 – 7 October to 20 December