The term is nearing its end and a well-deserved break is waiting for all of us. It has been a great term for many reasons. Students have been busy engaged in their studies, getting to know their teachers and making new friends. We have had our swimming and athletics carnivals, Year 10 students have participated in Outdoor Education camps and the Year 8 students have spent 3 days at Phillip Island.

Our Year 9 students have completed their Morrisby surveys and will participate in interviews to discuss the findings of their surveys next term. GRIT for Year 9 students began this term and some will attend an overnight camp this week.

Camps

Students in Year 8 and Year 10 Outdoor Education have been away on camp. They had had a fantastic time and the College has received positive feedback from both the camp operators and members of the public on their outstanding behaviour.

The Year 12 Outdoor and Environmental students paddled 60 km's along the Murray River and had a magnificent time. We would like to thank our families who contributed to the college Sport Equipment Fund. We were able to purchase "dry bags" and "canoe drums" which were used on the camp. These kept the students belongings nice and dry.

Tutoring Initiative

The Victorian Government has invested $250 million in the Tutor Learning Initiative to enable schools across Victoria to engage around 4,100 teachers as tutors in 2021 to support students who were impacted on due to COVID-19 in 2020. The tutors are employed to provide extra assistance with their learning.

Mornington Secondary College has employed 7 tutors to work with students for the next 26 weeks. Many students are working with the tutors in small groups for a maximum of 3 times per week whilst some are working individually with the tutors. Tutors have met with their students and are developing individual learning plans for all students on the program and developing short lessons to address individual point of need.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN will be occurring in May this year for students in Year 7 and 9. This year students in Year 9 who achieve outstanding results or who significantly improve their results in NAPLAN will receive a NAPLAN Certificate of Achievement.

The certificates will be awarded for two categories of achievement:

Category one: the achievement of excellence through getting a result in the top band for Reading or Numeracy, or both.
Category two: the achievement of outstanding learning growth through improvement by 2 or more bands between the NAPLAN Year 7 and Year 9 tests for Reading or Numeracy, or both.

A certificate would be a great addition to a resume. An employer would be very interested in a student with such a certificate who is looking for a part time job.

Mobile Phones – Student Use

‘From Term 1 2020, students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours. This a Ministerial Policy which was formally issued by the Minister for Education under section 5.2.1(2)(b) of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic).

When the ban was introduced, the majority of students abided by the rules and placed their phones in their locked lockers. Since we returned to school after remote learning, mobile phone use by students has been an issue. This includes using mobile phones to pay for food at the canteen.

Many schools are confiscating mobile phones until the end of the day.

I have asked the All Captains Council (student leaders) to run student forums to discuss this issue and to be part of the solution. So this is a call out for all students to ‘have your say’. The use of mobile phones for students is not an option, so have your say about what we do at Mornington Secondary College.

Recommendations will be sought from the student body and they will be presented to myself for consideration. I look forward to student input and their recommendations.

Consent

Issues of consent, sexual assault, and gender inequality have been prominent in the media and community conversations. These conversations reinforce the need to support students to build and manage safe and respectful relationships.

The students at Mornington Secondary College participate in the Respectful Relationships initiative during Health classes. The initiative supports schools to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours and teaches students how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. Respectful Relationships helps to embed a culture of respect and gender equality across the entire school community.

Currently staff are reviewing the curriculum offered to students in this area, to ensure education around consent occurs at all year levels for all students.

Changes to Covid Safe Settings

The Victorian Government has further relaxed its COVIDSafe settings from 6pm on Friday 26 March 2021.

Changes to the COVIDSafe settings include allowing more visitors in the home, changes to mask wearing in some settings and updates to density limits in some settings. There are limited operational changes for schools.

Visitors continue to be welcomed at our school, however face masks must be carried by individuals 12 years and over at all times and worn when physical distancing of 1.5 metres cannot be maintained.

Individuals aged 12 years and over must continue to wear a face mask when on public transport, school buses and when in taxis or ride share vehicles – unless they have a lawful exemption.

Thank you for your understanding and support throughout this term as we continue to implement COVIDSafe practices at our school.

I look forward to welcoming our students and families back to more school events in Term 2.

Linda Stanton

Principal

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