Delahey Campus Principal Message

Delahey Campus Principal Report to School Council

Hi to all our Delahey campus community folk. The year has reached its half-way mark, which at Delahey means the end of semester units in both VCE and VCE-VM. As a result, much of our work over the last 6 weeks or so is linked to completion of those units as well as preparing for life beyond Copperfield College.

Of course, we are also in the process of preparing the next generation of students coming from the Junior campuses…never a dull moment at the Delahey campus.

Speaking of preparing our Year 10s for next year, the Delahey Student Management and Pathways Teams visited both the Sydenham and Kings Park campuses on May 3 to initiate the Delahey Experience Program. This year, it was decided that the first connection our Year 10s had with Delahey were in familiar surroundings of their own campus with their current teachers present. Staff introduced themselves and gave a general overview of both VCE and VCE-VM, as well as the timeline for the course counselling process.

On Tuesday June 20 and Thursday June 22, the Delahey Experience program continues with Year 10 students visiting the Delahey campus in the morning for another session which will also include a familiarisation tour of the campus, facilitated by our Delahey Student Leadership Team. Students will be dismissed form the campus at approximately midday, with a reflective task to complete at home which will be used as part of their preparation and transition into senior school.

On May 23, the Delahey campus hosted the 9 into 10 into 11 Pathways Information Evening. This evening effectively begins the course counselling process. We were incredibly buoyed by the greater than expected attendance of students and their families. While the night focussed primarily on information, the message was loud and clear that we want to empower students to work with their teachers, course counsellors and families to be as informed as they can be. Of course, that also includes students taking initiative and doing some research themselves.

Our VCE-VM Year 12 students continue with their completion of projects as part of the Personal Development Studies strand. I can’t mention them all, but before I mention a couple, I really want to give a big shout out to our teachers who immerse themselves so much into their group’s projects. They simply would not happen without their dedication.

Two projects that I attended were:

The Trivia Night was hosted to raise money for the Sunshine Hospital. Students worked with an external ‘quiz-master’ presenter who they had researched, booked and liaised with. Dinner was also provided with students working with our VM teachers cooking pizzas from scratch using our pizza oven (another VM project!) Approximately 50 people attended and the project group raised over $2300 in ticketing and with the silent auction. Well done to all!
Another Year 12 PDS group hosted our Hight Tea function a fortnight ago. Our theme this year was ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the guests were the volunteers from Sunshine Hospital. With 40 guests to feed and entertain, our students organised High Tea ‘food boxes’, served coffee and tea, facilitated trivia and interacted with the guests. Music and dancing were also part of the entertainment with students and volunteers ‘boogy-ing’ away. While it’s fair to say our volunteers were impressed with the student organisation of the event, students were equally impressed with the dance moves of our more senior citizens…like kids today think they invented the art of dancing…lol!

Two of our student leaders, Nicayla Keranis and Chad Lazaro have initiated the Push-Up Challenge for the Delahey Campus. They launched the challenge on June 2 with Hot Chocolates and a bit of ‘drop and give me 20’ in the Delahey quadrangle. The Push Up Challenge is a mental health awareness and fundraising initiative that challenges students and staff to do 3,144 push-ups over the month of June.

Each day has a specific challenge number which reflects a mental health statistic, improving awareness of how to improve your mental health and implications for our brains, our health and our relationships.

Students doing their push-ups are prompted to think about the relationship they have with their digital devices whilst engaging in some healthy physical activity and raising money for a national mental health charity such as Lifeline.

Mr Sullivan has also signed up for the challenge and is manifestly failing to hit his daily targets despite the best intentions. The Copperfield College fundraising page is at https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/fundraisers/Copperfieldcollege if you would like to support our students.

The last couple of weeks here at the Delahey campus have been filled a multitude of events and routines, including:

The Year 11 end of Unit examination period
The Year 12 end of Unit practice examination period
Scheduled Redemption opportunities for all students at risk of not meeting outcomes in both VCE and VCE-VM
Year 11 Re-counselling session took place last Tuesday. It gave all our Year 11s some time to reflect on their first semester of VCE while discussing any changes to their units or semester 2.
As an adjunct to the point above, Year 11 VCE students also attended a Pathways session where they began the process of committing to their Year 12 units for next year so that timetabling and work force planning can begin.
Last Thursday was our annual General Achievement Test (GAT) day. This is a general knowledge test of sorts that provides safeguards when comparing work students do at school with their examination. All Year 12 students and Year 11 students undertaking Year 12 subjects are expected to undertake the GAT.
Year 11 students also participated in an Activities session last Wednesday run by SEED and the Pat Cronin Foundation. SEED focuses on Respectful relationships and the Pat Cronin Foundation focus on making better choices, particularly with regard to the ‘one-punch coward’ narrative.
A group of Year 12 VCE students attended RMIT on Wednesday. The institution gave students an overview of courses available, information and a tour of the city campus, opportunities for studying at overseas campuses as well as the benefits of the SNAP partnership we have with RMIT. This partnership allows for students from our school to access courses with lower-than-normal study scores, particularly in English.

Ok, that’s enough from me. Semester 2 begins today and reports are almost completed. Good luck to all our students. A 2-week break is not too far away (for all of us!!)

Till next time, stay healthy, happy and safe.

Mr Renato Carinci and Mr Dan Sullivan

Campus Principals