Wow!

What a fantastic end experience our Year 7-9 students have had in their End of Year Activities! We have had a camp, Duke of Ed experience, excursions to Gumbuya world, Chadstone, the movies, Immigration Museum, etc. The activities on site have also been memorable, including creation of an art mural, the safe launching of rockets on the oval and our ever-popular Dog day stole the show, however. A group of Year 7 students supervised my 6-month-old puppy ‘Walter’ on puppy day. It was such an exciting experience that Walter was exhausted by 1pm. Unfortunately, he did not win ‘best-dog’ of the day. This prized award went to Mr Irving’s pooch, who with careful training had far more manners than Walter.

Activities were linked to each curriculum area of the school. Staff enjoyed the planning and running of each session. Students enjoyed the wide variety of activities they were able to choose from.

Please keep reading for more information and photos from our End of Year Activities 2021:

Humanities-English Activities Day - End of Year Program

This year more than any other saw students participating in the end of year activities program with enthusiasm and delight! We made it through numerous lockdowns and mask wearing to being able to relax a little and participate in a range of activities both at school and off campus.

The Humanities and English Teams shared a day with some students attending an excursion to the Immigration Museum. Back at school students took part in an Amazing Race, board games, Ancient clay tablet making and watched a Viking inspired movie.

Terrific to see students and staff enjoying the day and having fun!.

Franca Mosca – Humanities Teacher

Year 7 Activities Week

As part of activities week, Year 7 students Allana, Willow, Liz, Kiki, Taesha, Myra, Amy, and Annabelle completed a covid mural to be hung in the cafeteria. The mural includes imagery relating to covid, lockdowns, and remote learning on one side, before progressing to opening up and symbols of Emerald life on the other.

Cindy Mikieciuk - Arts Domain Leader

Janine McMahon

“The time has come”, the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings!” And to be honest, anything but Covid! What a year. Two years ago, we would never have imagined how school would be affected by a global pandemic. Students have learned through digital means, sharing more with their friends and modifications to their curriculum and assessment. Students have displayed resilience and determination in their learning. Congratulations to all.

I had the absolute pleasure to be the MC for the Year 12 Graduation ceremony last week. It is always a big celebration with a hint of sadness as we farewell another group of amazing young people. Each student has worked towards their own success story and should be extremely proud of their achievements. It may be farewell, but I hope that we hold a special place in your heart, and you remember the many great times you had across your 13 years of school.

Uniform

As we move towards our planning for 2022 all students and parents/carers are reminded of the following key points regarding school uniform.

2022 Year 12 students are the only year level permitted to wear the old style of uniform. All other year levels must be in the new uniform which they have worn every year of their schooling.
No item of the PE uniform is permitted for every day use. This includes the PE shorts, T-shirt and Rugby style jumper.
Tracksuit pants are not permitted.

Car Parking

Changes are being made to the car park. This includes allocating the bay in front of EPAC to angled parking for parents to drop off and pick up. This will greatly improve the flow of traffic in the area and prevent the back up along the main road. Year 12 students will have their car parking moved to behind EPAC. Watch out for the new map to be placed on the college website and shared with our community.

Class Changes

One of the hardest things to do in any school is keep everyone happy. This is never as relevant as it comes to allocating students into classes. Decisions of which Home Group students are in or what electives run takes a considerable amount of time and input from many areas. Please be mindful as the 2022 classes are allocated that sometimes it is just not possible to achieve everyone’s first preference and we appreciate and thank you for your understanding.

Buildings Grounds and OHS

A reminder that Emerald Secondary College is a BARR school. This means that we are sitting in an area that has a heightened risk of bush fire. The Department has once again given us some much needed funding to help reduce/remove fuel in and around the school grounds. As such, our fire mitigation works have once again been completed.

B3 has been re-instated as a purpose-built media hub. By the time students return this will be an amazing learning space for our media and digitally based subjects.

Thank you

A big thank you to all parents and carers for your support. At times school is a challenging place and conversations are required. I always find that these conversations are respectful and appreciated. Thank you for supporting your young people in their learning journey. I look forward to what 2022 will bring.

Take care over the break.

Jonathon Rogers