Principal's Message

Dear Families,

I hope you were all able to have a restful break during the school holidays. Term 2 has started well and students have settled in to their studies. This term is a short term, only nine weeks, and there is a lot happening as usual!

Please note that there are two student free days this term -

1. Wednesday 1st June is a day for staff professional development and this has been approved by the College Board. Staff will be involved in a range of professional learning activities including:

Developing and using rubrics
Using data to effectively differentiate learning
Using student goal setting to improve student learning
Promoting student agency in your classroom
Building a collaborative classroom environment
Developing critical reading strategies.

2. Friday 10th June is a whole school professional practice day, as approved by the Dept of Education.

Staff will be working on site on both these days and the general office will be open at both campuses.

New School Crossing

Please note that Brimbank Council will be constructing a school crossing outside the Cairnlea campus over the next few weeks, so please be mindful of this if you are driving around the Senior Campus.

ANZAC Assemblies

As the College Principal I was incredibly proud of our school captains and vice captains at both campuses on Wednesday 27th April as they honoured past and present Australian and New Zealand soldiers at our ANZAC commemorative assemblies.

I would like to congratulate our SRC Co-ordinators Ms Panagiotidis and Ms Wooles for their organisation skills and our students who spoke eloquently in front of the large crowd of staff and students. I would also like to thank our College Board President, Ellen Arnott, who made the effort to attend both assemblies. Each event was a very moving tribute and I thank the staff who assisted and supported the students who participated.

NAPLAN

Students in Years 7 and 9 are currently undertaking their NAPLAN testing online. The NAPLAN 2022 results will be provided to schools from mid-August to mid-September. All students who participated in the NAPLAN tests will get an individual report of their results.

NAPLAN individual student reports provide information about what students know and have achieved in the areas of reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy. They also provide information on how students have performed in relation to other students in the same year group, and against the national average (over one million students participate in NAPLAN tests each year) and the national minimum standards.

I encourage students to do their best as this data helps us to identify where students are achieving and where they need further support.

Exams

Students will commence their semester one exams on Thursday 2nd 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 continued growth.

Unit 3 exams for VCE students will run during week 9 of this term. Exam timetables will be provided to all the students in the next few weeks.

Student Attitudes to School Survey

The Student Attitudes to School survey is an annual survey conducted by the Department of Education and Training that provides data to support student wellbeing, engagement, school improvement and planning in schools. Students from years 7 to 12 will complete the survey by the end of Term 2. With this information we can continue to put in place programs and initiatives to help promote and improve the schooling experience for our students.

'Be Well Stay Well' Event

The Student Wellbeing Team are busy organising a “Be Well Stay Well” event for the junior and senior campuses. The event is designed to reinvigorate students following the last two years of lockdowns and remote learning.

As part of our school’s Health Promotion Plan, Bronwyn Anderson (our Community Nurse) has done an amazing job working with me to scope the workshops for these days and to organise guest speakers.

The Junior Campus event will be held on Tuesday 24th May. Each Year 7, 8 and 9 cohort will be put into four groups to attend four different workshops. The sessions will focus on topics such as -

Mental fitness
Sleep hygiene
Eating and exercise
Mindfulness and relaxation
Making smart choices
Emotional literacy
Online safety

A similar event will run at the Senior Campus in Term 3.

Junior Music Soiree

Families are invited to attend the Junior Music Soiree which will be held on Thursday 16th June at 6.00pm. The soiree will showcase the brilliant talents of our musicians and vocalists at the Junior Campus. All welcome!

Enjoy the rest of the term,

Elaine Hazim

College Principal

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Child Safety at VUSC

Victoria University Secondary College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.

Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.

Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy.

Commitment to Child Safety
Child Safety Policy
Child Safety Code of Conduct
Child Protection Policy and Procedures