Message from our 

Campus Principal

The last few weeks have been jam-packed with great things across our Campus and it is fantastic to see such a positive buzz around the place.  This has been offset by some negative behaviours in the community by those who are not students of the Campus but with the support of Morwell Police, we are pleased to see this is dying down also.  The safety of our students is our first priority.

The opening of our new administration building has alleviated a lot of strain on room availability in the school and this is expected to continue to improve with the arrival of a new portable classroom expected to take place in the next week or two, to be opened at the start of Term 2.  This is recognition of the growth of the school; an additional class of students in Year 7 is a great thing allowing for more opportunities and flexibility to be available in the long term to provide more options for our students.

NAPLAN has kicked off last week and we are so proud of students for their efforts in this so far.  With the introduction of NAPLAN Online, students are now able to space out their tests.  Instead of four intensive days for all Year 7 and 9 students, ours will be undertaking a NAPLAN test every second day.  This also provides lots more opportunities for catch up tests for those who are away and increases the likelihood of good quality assessments with students not worn out by the excessive testing regime.  

NAPLAN is important to our school and provides valuable data about the positives of our teaching, as well as highlighting gaps that we are not reaching, or areas that will need additional focus for our Year 7s as they move through high school.  Although it receives negative media attention every time it is on, in our eyes NAPLAN is a positive opportunity as long as it is used correctly. 

I was really proud to join with Ms Wenjing Sun in taking a group of four students to Melbourne on Saturday last week to take their HSK Level 1 Chinese test.  This is an adult assessment and a credit to the students for taking the time, particularly on the weekend, to have a go.  The other people taking the test were university students.  They won’t know for a month or so if they’ve passed but they came out feeling very confident.  This was the first time we’ve had students take the HSK test and I look forward to more opportunities in the future.  It was also a fantastic opportunity to experience some of the facilities of university and the students were a little awe-struck at the quality and size of the Victoria University City Campus building.

We finish the end of term with our Parent Teacher Conversations and I want to encourage all parents to attend these with their child.  Involving the student is an important part of the conversation that allows them to take ownership for their success and be part of the solution for any problems that have arisen.  For Year 7 students in particular, this is a change to their experience of primary school where often they are talked about rather than with.  It is best to book in appointments online by using Compass.  You will be notified when these open and if you have any difficulties, please don’t hesitate to contact our very helpful office staff.  Thursday 6th April we will not have any classes running to enable families to come in during the day time.  Our last day of classes, Wednesday 5th April, is a full day with the usual 2:50pm finish.

As this will be the last newsletter before the holidays, I wish you all a happy Easter and a restful break.  The first day back for the term is a student free day for professional learning and the second day back is ANZAC Day so students return on Wednesday, 26th April.

Mr Dan Swallow

Morwell Campus Principal