Principal's Report

Term 3 at a glance

I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, carers, student and other members of our community for your support and involvement during this term. Although, like many community groups and businesses, we have had our share of illness and absence, we are delighted with how students have continued to engage in their learning.

I would like to acknowledge the work of our staff who have remained a power of strength despite the fatigue many have experienced following COVID and other viruses. They have provided the much-needed continuity of teaching and learning, wellbeing supports and motivation that our young people need at this time.

The term so far

Term 3 has been busy and productive, with some of our focus now turning to planning for 2023.  The start of term saw continued interruptions due to COVID and other illnesses, but by mid-term this seems to have subsided, and we are resuming something of a rhythm.

Like most schools across the state (and many other workplaces), LSC has been challenged by staffing shortages. Unexpected and unavoidable events have meant the departure of some teachers’ mid-year. Whilst we have been lucky to recruit some highly skilled and experienced replacement teachers, other roles have been more difficult to fill. Our teacher teams have been working together to share resources and to support their colleagues and our students, and we now have most roles filled. 

Recruitment is already underway for 2023, but this is likely to still be a challenge faced by schools over the next few years. I've been pleased to see state and federal governments looking at systemic solutions for this challenge: teaching is a wonderful and rewarding profession and deserves to be recognised as such.

Highlights of the term have included our Musical Production, Interschool Sport, Active Schools Program, as well as an enhanced subject selection process for our Year 8-11 students. 

Year 12s are now entering the ‘countdown’ to exams and undertook a revised and extended General Achievement Test (GAT) on September 7. 

Planning for 2023 – subject/course selection

Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 students undertook an updated subject selection process this term, with a broad range of staff being trained to conduct their individual interviews on a dedicated day. These online sessions were very well attended, and it was great to see that a number of parents join these meetings with their children for the discussion. The set-up also allowed students to have immediate access to additional, specialist advice from the Careers, English as an Additional Language (EAL) and VCE-Vocational Major (VCE-VM) team. 

Student preferences are now fed into the timetabling system, along with staff teaching preferences and availabilities and rooming availability. All of this is processed to try and optimise preferences and allocation of resources across the whole school (a huge undertaking) and then will undergo several rounds of refinement and adjustment before subject allocations and timetables can be confirmed in December.

We are currently working on our curriculum planning for the new VCE-Vocational Major (VCE-VM) offering. This is a significant undertaking by a number of staff, who work as a strong team to allow us to deliver a promising program. We are really looking forward to celebrating our first VCE-VM cohort next year: it's a wonderful curriculum which will provide real options, opportunities and flexibility for students.

School Production – Mamma Mia

An absolute highlight of the Term so far has been the school production of Mama Mia. It played four shows (and a dress rehearsal for our local primary schools) in our stately Performing Arts auditorium. The standard of both the performances and the production elements was extremely high, with many who saw it expressing surprise that it was entirely students! After overcoming numerous challenges due to COVID staff and student absences, as well as the disappointment of cancelled 2020 and 2021 productions, it was particularly special to see it all come together.  A huge thank you to all the families who supported this show, to the staff who worked so hard to make it possible, and of course to the students whose commitment, collaboration and creativity shone through. 

Performances like these allow students’ talent to be recognised.  It also allows our exceptional extensive performing arts program to be celebrated.

Minister for Education Visit

The Minister for Education, Natalie Hutchins MP and Gabrielle Williams MP visited our college on Tuesday 2 August to see the construction progress of the Senior School Centre and to promote Victorian government teacher recruitment initiatives. They also viewed some of our students at work and were very impressed with their work ethic. Thank you to our four College Captains for touring with our special guests. The Minister asked the captains Wissam Al- Ashkar, Priyanka Suja Rani, Brenda Huynh and Janet Ross about studying at Lyndale and of the overall impact of COVID on the learning of students and were clearly able to articulate answers to these questions and impress the Minister.

Parent, Student and Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences were held this week on Thursday 8 September. Conferences were once again held online via MS Team links.  The day was a student free day, and no classes were held.  We encouraged students to attend these conferences with you, so that they can receive feedback and take ownership of their learning.

Book Week

Well done to our library team for organising great activities during week 7. The theme for the week was “Dreaming with eyes open.” Special thanks to all the students and staff who joined in to celebrate our love of reading.

Year 12 VCAA exams

The VCAA exams are fast approaching, and it is a great time for students to start to plan their study timetables and approaches now. The amount of revision and preparation completed in the next few months can have a real impact on the results achieved.

Some tips for revision and preparing for the exams include;

• Plan a study timetable. Feel assured you will cover your material in time with a realistic study timetable.
• Study in ‘chunks’ of 45 minutes to an hour at a time
• Have a dedicated study area with materials, books etc set up
• Maintain a work/life balance which includes staying healthy, regular exercise, eating properly and getting a good night’s sleep
• Minimise distractions
• Work out how and when you study best – make study and revision ‘active’ eg complete summaries, recheck and refine notes, complete practice exam questions.
• Ask your teacher for help, use the resources provided eg Edrolo, Google Classrooms and One Note

Facilities updates

It's been another challenging year with our facilities, but we are seeing some progress in this area! 

Our West Wing and courtyard are still undergoing some extensive work.  Our much-needed shade sail is 95% complete – the posts are installed, and we are still waiting on the delivery of the blue canopy. 

We are making good progress towards the build of the Senior School Centre.  Whilst we don’t as yet have a firm completion date, we are aiming for all works to be completed by the end of the year in readiness for the new school year.

School Policies

A reminder that key school policies can be found on our website in the 'About’ section https://lyndale.vic.edu.au/school-policies-documents/

Some policies of particular relevance to families are the ‘Mobile Phone Policy', the ‘Child Protection’ and the ‘Uniform Policy', which both outline practices and expectations of staff, students and parents/carers. 

Statewide, Child Safety policies have also been reviewed this year, and LSC will be in the process of implementing these updates through the remainder of 2022. 

Lyndale Secondary College’s values underpin our purpose to provide a safe, supportive and challenging learning environment that focusses on nurturing the whole person in order to develop active and self-aware contributors to our global community. 

Pam Robinson

Principal