Principal's Message
Dear Families,
Visit from schools in Queensland
On Thursday 25th May we had the Principal from Runcorn State High School in Queensland and his team of 8 leading teachers visit VUSC to gather information about how our school approaches aspects of learning such as literacy and senior studies.
We presented our improving NAPLAN and VCE data, discussed our Teaching and Learning practices, our Learning Improvement Framework for Teaching, the consistencies and collective efficacy across the college, our Professional Practice Teams, and the strategies we have implemented in English to get our results above the State level.
The Queensland team were extremely impressed with our data and presentation. The Principal’s final words before they departed was, VUSC stood out amongst the crowd when he was researching other 'like' schools and no other school has improved as exponentially as we have!!! What a huge compliment to our staff, students, and the wider school community.
Storm Cup Semi-Finalists!
Congratulations to our Senior Boys Rugby League team for defeating the undefeated Grange College team in Round 3 of the NRL Schoolboy Storm Cup on Thursday 25th May! We wish them the best of luck as they now head straight to the semi-finals. Some of the boys also featured in the Herald Sun recently (see below).
In addition, three VUSC students - Elijah Po Ching, Philip Masalosalo and Lockyer-Azile Foliola (pictured right) were also selected to play in the U18s Combined Affiliated States last night, in a curtain raiser to the State of Origin Game 1 at the Adelaide Oval! The teams battled it out to vie for selection for the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League U18s Championship CAS Team.
Well done to all the boys and coach Mr Adam, you have made us very proud!
Cancer Council Biggest Morning Tea
Our staff raised almost $1000 for the Cancer Council recently! Thank you to our generous teachers and education support staff who donated and brought food to share for the Biggest Morning Tea at both campuses.
Congratulations Mr Mildenhall
A huge congratulations to Mr Mildenhall who has been recognised by the Department for 55 years of service to education. Mr Mildenhall teaches Physics and Systems Engineering at our Senior Campus, and he has also been a senior Maths teacher. We thank him for his dedication to our students over many years.
Semester One Exams
Students will commence their semester one exams from Thursday 1st June. This is an important process for students to ascertain their level of achievement for each of their subjects and offers a great opportunity to plan for the next stages of their senior schooling. The results are key to their continued growth.
Unit 3 exams for VCE (Year 12) students will run during week 9 of Term 2.
Exam timetables have been published on Compass and provided to all the students in all year levels.
Foodbank
A reminder to students that free food from Foodbank is available every day at lunch time, in the staff room (Principals' portable) at the Senior Campus and the Coordinators' office at the Junior Campus. All students are welcome.
Year 10 Career Panel Presentations
Ms Muratore, our Careers Coordinator has organised a Year 10 Careers Panel Presentation on Thursday 20th July from 2.00 – 3.00pm during the Year 10 Inquiry classes, at our Cairnlea Campus.
On the day we will have representatives from a range of professions and industries to help students consider their options, when making their senior subject selections.
Participants will be organised into panels aligned with occupational fields and/or subject areas. Each panellist will speak about their backgrounds and careers, and students will be given an opportunity to ask questions to make informed decisions regarding their subject choices for 2024.
A huge thank you to those staff who referred friends, family, and ex-colleagues to participate on the day and to Ms Muratore for organising this amazing new event.
If you are in the workforce and you would be interested in sharing your career experiences with our students, please contact Ms Muratore on 8312 0200.
Empowering Communities Hackathon Year 9 Project
Several of our Year 9 students were nominated to participate in the ‘Empowering Communities Hackathon Project,’ which upskills them in essential areas and is involved in creating solutions for issues within the community identified by themselves and other students.
A facilitator from Endeavour Youth Australia worked with the students over two sessions to teach them about design thinking and self-advocacy and guiding students to explore issues they feel passionate about.
Teams of students are collaboratively working together to design a solution to the problem they have identified and then they will pitch their project idea to the larger group. Students will anonymously vote for their favourite idea and the winning project will be funded by the Brimbank Empowering Communities Project for implementation.
I will keep you all posted regarding the outcome and result of this exciting project.
Jiangsu Teachers Virtual Visit to VUSC
On Friday 2nd June teachers from our Jiangsu sister school in China will virtually visit Victoria University Secondary College.
The group of teachers from Jiangsu have been specially selected to attend a pilot Teaching Excellence Program online that is delivered by the Melbourne University Graduate School of Education (MGSE).
While engaging in their professional learning with Melbourne University, the Jiangsu teachers wanted the opportunity to virtually visit VUSC so that we could share our school practices, discuss our curriculum, our teaching and learning practices, our student wellbeing processes, and our family-school collaboration.
Our wonderful Chinese teachers, Wayne Ding, Jessie Wang, Yuki Cho and I will be hosting this great event as we continue to improve education worldwide and share our practices.
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support – Blue Level Acknowledgement
It gives me great pleasure to report that our College has been the latest recipient of the Blue Award Level for our implementation of the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support framework! This award is to acknowledge how the fundamental elements of SWPBS have been implemented at our College.
SWPBS implementation can take between three to five years, and it is wonderful to see the ongoing commitment of our College in creating a more positive and effective learning environment.
Parking around the school
Families are reminded not to use the school's driveway to drop off or pick up their children at the Junior Campus, as this creates a lot of congestion and long wait times, particularly for staff who are trying to enter the school.
Families are also asked to drop off or pick up their children on Nobel Banks Drive or further down Ken Jordan Rd at the Senior Campus instead of double parking in front of the gate. This is both illegal and causes a lot of congestion on the road.
Students are reminded to use the school crossings at both campuses for their safety.
Semester 2 Reports
Semester 2 Reports will be published on Compass in the last week of this term. Parent teacher interviews will be held halfway through Term 3. If you wish to discuss your child's progress before then, please contact the school to speak to your child's teachers.
Senior Secondary Information Evening and Expo
Early next term we will start preparing students for subject selections for 2024.
We will be holding an online information evening for Year 9 and 10 students and their parents/carers on Monday 17th July. This session will run on Microsoft Teams and it will also be recorded and made available to parents/carers via a link on Compass. During this session we will talk about VCE, ATARs, VCE Vocational Major, VET programs and HEADSTART Apprenticeships and Traineeships, as well as the subjects available at VUSC in Years 11 and 12.
On Tuesday 18th July we will hold a Subject Expo for Year 10 students during period 4 at the Senior Campus. Parents/carers are welcome to attend with their child. More information about these events and the subsequent course counselling interviews will be provided early next term.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of Term 2 and the holiday break. A reminder that students will be dismissed at 1.30pm on Friday 23rd June and Term 3 begins on Monday 10th July.
Elaine Hazim
College Principal
*******************************************************************************************
Child Safety at VUSC
Victoria University Secondary College is committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where students are safe and feel safe.
Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students:
- Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
- Child Safety Code of Conduct
- Child Safe Standards Risk Register
- Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure
All of our policies are available on our school website here. As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at VUSC, we welcome and encourage your feedback.