Assistant Principal's Update

Marina Walsh
Marina Walsh

 

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

 

Term 1 Week 3

 

I must start with highlighting how well all of our students have commenced the year.  It is wonderful to see our students at school, attending classes, socialising during the breaks and catching up with each other in general.  It’s terrific that we are able to run face-to-face lessons.

 

As we now settle into our classes and the routine of arriving on time each morning, we thank our students for their cooperation in the yard with the continued building works.  It won’t be much longer with the restricted space.  Students are encouraged to utilise other areas of the grounds during recess and lunch.  We do have the front gardens as a dedicated space for our new Year 7 students. 

 

Commencing next week, we will be opening our Gym during Monday and Thursday lunchtimes to allow students to use the court.  Students will need to wear correct shoes and follow all Gym rules. There will be a limit to how many students be allowed to access the Gym.  Further details will be communicated to the students in year level assemblies next week.

 

Reward Badges

Many extra-curricular activities will again run during our lunch breaks. Points are awarded to students when they participate in clubs and other organised events.  Students will also receive points for displaying behaviours consistent with our school values and for being involved in extra-curricular activities.  As the year progresses, these points are accumulated and go towards the students’ houses.  We also keep a tally of how many points each student receives.  When a student accumulates a certain amount of points, they will receive a House Reward Badge.  The points will continue to accumulate as the student progresses through their years at our school.

  • Bronze  = 200 points
  • Silver     = 350 points
  • Gold       = 500 points

To get the ball rolling this year, we will be awarding badges to the first student in each year level and house who achieves 100 points.  We will run ‘double points’ weeks at various times as well.  Further details about our House Reward Badges will be explained in year level assemblies next week.

 

During our house assemblies this week, the following students received their bronze badge for their participation in 2021. 

Bunurong

Tallain CONNELL (Y8)

Kylie WOLFE (Y9)

Jeremy THAI-CHAN (Y11)

Iwala

Charles HOREJSI (Y8)

Jade GOODMAN (Y12)

Kalura

Benjamin WOOLRIDGE (Y9)

Eden LASBURY (Y10)

Phoebe COLLINS (Y11)

Aston HEWET (Y12)

Yerlonga

Jensen SRISUWAN (Y8)

Billy FARRER (Y8)

Liliana BELL (Y9)

Georgia DORRITY (Y10)

Antonio MARQUEZ VAZ SERRA (Y10)

Isabella SULLIVAN (Y11)

Stephen ELKINGTON (Y12)

 

Achieving our Personal Best

Last year we conducted a review of our Progress Checks, asking for feedback from students, parents/ carers and staff.  In response to the review, we have updated a number of aspects.

 

We will continue to conduct progress checks every five to six weeks reporting on our students’ attendance, learning behaviours and learning growth, plus we will provide feedback on how the students are progressing with their classwork.  Again, we have created a reporting calendar for you to reference during the year showing intended dates for when progress checks and semester reports will be released to families. 

 

Our reporting calendar is attached for you.  It includes such key items as:

  • Release dates of Progress Checks and Semester Reports
  • Final dates for work submissions for each semester 
  • Dates of Parent Teacher Student Interviews
  • Dates of Student-Free Days

 

Details relating to the four aspects of the progress checks are listed below:

Cycle

Progress Check/ Semester Report

Progress Check 

Middle of Term 1 

First full progress check for Semester 1 for subjects of at least 4 periods per cycle.

Progress Check 

Early Term 2

Second full progress checks for Semester 1 for all subjects including instrumental music, Sport Ed and My Mentor Program/ Home Group.

Semester Report 

End of Term 2

For all subjects and to include attendance, learning behaviours, benchmark tasks/ SACs and exams.

Progress Check Middle of Term 3

First full progress check for Semester 2 for subjects of at least 4 periods per cycle.

Progress Check 

Mid Semester 2

Second for Semester 2 for all subjects including Instrumental Music, Sport Ed and My Mentor Program/ Home Group.  Y12 at Term 3 end and  Y7-11 early Term 4.

Semester Report Middle of  Term 4

For all subjects and to include attendance, learning behaviours, benchmark tasks/ SACs and exams.  

 

Attendance

Adequate attendance is integral to the successful completion of units of study. At Mordialloc College, we want all students to have an attendance rate of at least 90%  according to the school/ VCE percentage. Any student who is below 90% will need to address this during the semester to ensure that their percentage lifts above 90% by the end of the semester.  As a guide, students and parents/ carers should consider:

  • Attendance of 90% or more, the student is considered on track.
  • Attendance of 80% - 89%, the student is encouraged to review their routine and make adjustments to increase their attendance rate.
  • Attendance of less than 80%, the student is strongly advised to review their routine and make adjustments to increase their attendance rate.  Consultation with the Wellbeing Team or the Home Group/ Mentor teacher is also encouraged.   

A copy of the College Attendance policy can be found on the Mordialloc College website in School Policies. Alternatively, please click the link below, which will direct you straight to the policy section.

http://www.mcsc.vic.edu.au/current-parents/school-policies/

 

Learning Behaviours 

Our rubric for students and families has been updated in terms of the language used and now includes Personal Best, Respect and Responsibility. This can be used as a reference when reflecting on how the student is behaving in class.  Please use the attached rubric for more information.

Learning Growth

It is important to know how our students are progressing with their learning, especially as we pick up after the Covid-19 pandemic.  Teachers will comment on their students’ learning growth in terms of the Victorian Curriculum and/ or the VCAL/ VCE/ VET Study Designs.

 

Classwork

We expect all of our students to satisfactorily complete the classwork set during the semester in addition to benchmark tasks (Years 7 – 10), SACs/ SATs and Outcomes (Years 11 – 12).

 

Teachers will comment on whether the student is on track or if there is a particular area that they need to focus on such as meeting deadlines, working to their personal best, and/ or incomplete or overdue work.

 

Learning Tasks on Compass

Learning Tasks are colour-coded.  It is a visual representation for students to see what type of work they have due.  Teachers will assign a due date for each task which will appear on the student’s schedule at the top of the day that the work is due, assisting students with their organisation. Parents/ carers will also be able to see these tasks. 

If a student is not able to submit the task by the due date, they need to speak with their teacher, provide a note from home explaining why the deadline is not able to be met and then discuss and plan a new timeline for the work to be submitted.  The responsibility for this lies with the student.

 

Due dates may not be assigned immediately for all tasks on Compass as some tasks will be due later in the semester.  If parents/ carers have a query about due dates, they are encouraged to email the relevant classroom teacher. 

 

Exciting Events 

We held our first whole school assembly this week on Monday followed by our House Rallies on Tuesday.  The whole school assembly was conducted remotely but it was great to see everyone tune in online while they heard our College Captains lead the way.  For our house rallies we were, in part, able to conduct them face to face utilising our larger learning spaces around the school, whereas some groups met online.  Students also submitted the events they wanted to enter for both our House Swimming Carnival, scheduled for Thursday 24 February, and our House Athletics Carnival, which will be on Thursday 7 April. 

 

These will be exciting days for everyone!  Don’t forget, consent for our carnivals needs to be given by parents/carers. This can be done via Compass.  On the day, students are strongly encouraged to dress up in their house colours.  Prizes are given for best dressed.  Here is a reminder of our Houses:

 

Next week, from Wednesday to Friday, we will see our Year 7 students out for their first year level camp to the Summit, located in Trafalgar East.  Students will get the opportunity to step outside of their comfort zone by challenging themselves to complete activities like the Leap of Faith, Sky Walk and Flying Fox.  They will work together in various activities, enabling them to develop their skills in communication and working with others.

 

Also coming up next week, our Year 9 students will all sit the General Achievement Test (GAT) comprising 124 multiple choice questions.  I anticipate our students seizing this opportunity to work hard to complete as many questions as they can within the given time period.  The GAT will be held on the morning of Friday 18 February.  The GAT is specially designed for our students and is unique in structure and content. It covers numerical, verbal, abstract, spatial and general reasoning.  It is then externally assessed and analysed.  The GAT data collected will be used by our teachers not only this year but in following years until this cohort completes Year 12.  Further details of this event will be shared via Compass to students and their families in coming days.

 

Covid-Safe Practices

It has been a terrific start to the year in terms of seeing all of our students bring their masks to all lessons and wearing them correctly.  We have just had another batch of rapid antigen tests arrive and these will be distributed over the coming days directly to students for them to continue to self-test twice a week.

 

These first four weeks are a critical time in ensuring everyone is following Covid-safe practices.  It will be after our first four weeks that we will be informed of future guidelines which our College Principal, Michelle Roberts, will then communicate to our school community.

 

So far we have been able to accommodate the few students who have not had a mask at school.  For students who do accidentally forget their masks, they can purchase one at Reception for $1.00.  Our stocks are limited.   

 

As a reminder, this is the advice received from the Department in regards to notifying a positive case:

  1. Parents/ carers should complete the Student COVID-19 COVID Test Portal if a student tests positive to COVID-19 (via a PCR or rapid antigen test). 
  2. Students who report a positive result must isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period. Students/ Parents have been informed they need to stay up to date to the best of their ability while in isolation by following their respective Google Classroom for each of their classes and that it is not possible for teachers to run remote learning lessons along with their onsite lessons. 
  3. Where a student is a household contact of a positive case (that is, they have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation, or care facility) they must inform the school and isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period. 
  4. If students receive a positive test result at any time, they must also report this through the Department of Health system (Rapid antigen tests | Coronavirus Victoria) or via the coronavirus hotline at 1800 675 398.

Awards Night and Production Videos from 2021

As we kick off this new year of learning, it is always nice to remember the highlights of 2021, and this can be done by accessing our Awards Night and Production videos.  Many of you would have already seen these but, for those that have not yet or were not able to access them previously, here are the details.

 

Microsoft Stream instructions. Click on the link you wish to watch below:

 

Mordialloc College Awards 2021

Mordialloc College Production 2021

  1. Log in using your student’s Mordialloc College email and password
  2. If you get a message saying, “That video couldn’t be found”, this means you are logged into a non-Mordialloc College account. You can either:
    1. Log out of that account (clicking the icon in the top right corner and selecting “Sign out”), or
    2. Use “Guest” or “Private” mode on your web browser

Google Drive instructions (lower quality). Click on the link you wish to watch below:

 

Mordialloc College Awards  2021

Mordialloc College Production 2021

  • Log in using your student’s Mordialloc College email and password

Marina Walsh

Assistant Principal