Principal Report

As we return for Term 3 at East Doncaster Secondary College, our students face an important and challenging period of study in their academic year. Our VCE students are at the stage of both consolidating their learning and developing the skills and understanding to succeed in the end of year VCE examinations. At most year levels we commence the process of planning for the successful transition to the next level of study through our course selection program. It’s also a time with lots of school activities including interschool Sport, our student performances in ‘Attitudes’, our extensive Year 11 camp program and our Year 8 camp to ….. A diverse, busy, challenging and engaging term lies ahead of us!

School Review – Term 3

As outlined in Newsletters earlier in the year, the College will undertake a School Review process this term.

It is legislated that all Victorian Government Schools undertake a detailed review on school operations, policies, governance and compliance, child safety standards, Curriculum planning and documentation, reporting and assessment, staffing procedures and OHS matters.

In preparation for the review, we have been working to ensure that our current practices, protocols and policies are in accord with the legislated requirements that governs schools, whilst also analysing multiple sources of school data to evaluate our success as a College in meeting the articulated goals of our last School Strategic Plan 2020-23.

The formal Review process will commence at our College on Wednesday 26 July and will continue until we host a formal College Review Day on Wednesday 14 August. It is anticipated that we will receive our official Review Documentation in the initial weeks of Term 4 with the expectation of completing a new School Strategic Plan 2024-2027 by mid Term 4.

Over the next week, as a key component of this review, we will be organising focus groups of parents and students in order to capture a wider College focus on our progress as a highly effective secondary College, with aspirations to achieve further growth in student outcomes.

Initial communications with the external reviewer would indicate that we will be inviting parents to participate in a review focus group feedback session on Wednesday 9 August at 9.00 am. When this date is confirmed I will release a Compass newsfeed with full details. If any parent of our College community wants to participate in this process, I would invite them to contact the College and communicate this intention as soon as possible.

Senior School 2024 Student Course Selection

This week we have begun the valuable process of supporting students and their parents with making informed individual choices of their prospective studies in Senior School in 2024.

Establishing goals for future success is important for the students of our school community. For many students, their future plans rest upon successful completion of VCE/VM studies at Year 12. Over these next few weeks students will be supported through information evenings, workshops and counselling sessions. I would encourage every family to engage in this process to maximise opportunities for success. In many cases, the correct decisions made in the formative stages of the VCE journey can have such a positive impact upon the outcomes achieved.

On Thursday evening we held our Year 10 2024 Information Evening with a similar opportunity for Year 11 2024 next Thursday (27 July). There are several informative resources for this process on the Compass newsfeed facility.

The better informed our students are, the more likely their choices will be relevant and lead to success in learning.

If you require further information on this, please contact Acting Assistant Principals, Angie Fusinato and Brett Lamb or Head of Senior School, Kate Leaumont.

Senior School Careers Pathways Expo

Last week we held our annual Careers Pathways Expo for our Senior School students. It was well attended by representatives of many public and private providers of tertiary education programs and courses and was an important element of the series of opportunities provided to our students. Congratulations to our Pathways Team led by Craig Browne, ably assisted by our Senior School Coordinators for their organisation. It was very rewarding to witness these sessions and the interaction and engagement of our Year 11 and 12 students as they started to make connections towards new aspirational pathways or consolidated their current views by liaising with representatives from Melbourne, Monash, La Trobe, Deakin and Swinburne Universities and other related institutions.

SSV Cross Country State Championships

Five of our most talented distance runners represented the college in the SSV Cross Country State Championships held at the Yarra Valley Racecourse during last week.

In wintery conditions, our students represented our College in a great fashion - participating against the best cross country runners in the state.

Results from the day were as follows:

Kryshant - 64th Boys 12-13 Years

Kriish - 65th Boys 12-13 Years

Yishan - 13th Boys 16 Years

Megan - 24th Girls 17-20 Years

Flynn - 9th Boys 17-20 Years

These are outstanding results from our students and as a College we congratulate them. Well done Kryshant, Kriish, Yishan, Megan and Flynn!

Athletics Carnival

On Tuesday, the annual EDSC House Athletics Carnival was held at Tom Kelly Athletics Track. After a sunny but chilly start to the event, Melbourne’s winter weather settled upon us in a wet and soggy fashion. Considering the inclement conditions of the day, our students and staff did really well to soldier on!

The atmosphere across the day was relaxed, friendly and inclusive as students embraced the opportunity to connect with each other, led in large numbers by the Year 12 cohort, our House Captains and the organisation of our Student Leadership Coordinator, Tim Bourke.

After a long period without notable success in our house-based activities, it was great to see the students of Sutherland win the overall ranking for the event, closely followed by Chisolm, Dunlop and Bradman. Well done to the Sutherland crew!

In relation to the athletic performances during the day – it was also great to see some long-standing College event records broken by our talented students who are setting their own benchmarks.

The top competitors in most events will now represent the College in the upcoming Whitehorse Division Carnival to be held on Wednesday 9 August at the Tom Kelly Athletics Track.

A sincere thank-you is extended to our School Sporting Carnival Coordinator, Michael James and his team of willing and able assistants for making the event such a success.

East Doncaster students depart for the Alpine School

East Doncaster Secondary College has been fortunate enough to once again secure student placements at the Alpine School, Gnurad-Gundidj campus, in the south western region of Victoria, this term. The four Year 9 students selected to participate in the program are Taylor, Dannu, Lily and Kaiming.

The Alpine School is a Department of Education Multi-Campus School, specialising in leadership and enterprise education for students in Year 9. This placement enables around 30 students from differing backgrounds to share the experiences and opportunities provided through the program. The school aims to develop skills in leadership, enterprise education and team-based learning. We hope that our team enjoy the experience immensely. Having wished them all the best in a meeting with them yesterday, I noted that they are really positive about meeting the challenges set daily in this exciting environment.

Congratulations to them and it will be great to have them share their experiences with our wider school community upon their return.

College Bike Enclosure

After noting a couple of years ago that we had an increasing number of students travel to and from the College on bikes or scooters, we were faced with the situation that our current bike enclosure was no longer big enough!

We are therefore pleased to announce that after consultation with our students on location and design, we have commenced the new term with the opening of our new bike enclosure.

We hope that a bigger and more secure space will encourage a greater number of students to think about being active in the modes of transport to and from the College.

In relation to student safety, we also remind all students that helmets must be worn when on bikes and scooters and we do ask that students supply a working lock to secure their device within the enclosure.

Refer to below flyer for more information...

Parents and Friends Association – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

Our hard-working Parents and Friends Association conducted a sausage sizzle at Bunnings Doncaster over the holiday period on Sunday 9 July.

This is one of the major fund-raising events for the PFA this year.

A big thank-you to the parents who have volunteered to assist. We have a large team of PFA members and volunteers who readily give of their time and it is richly appreciated by our College.

Student Achievement

In a week that has been notable for student achievement in the sporting fields, it is also fitting that we acknowledge the efforts of Yee-Yuan Lim (Year 11) and Shih Yaun Lim (Year 7 ) for their outstanding achievements in Badminton. Yee-Yuan was selected and competed with the Victorian Under 19 team in the national titles held in Adelaide over the school holiday period.

Shih-Yuan was selected and competed in the Victorian Under 15 team that also competed in Adelaide last week. Outstanding achievements from two very talented young athletes.

Well done Yee-Yuan and Shih Yuan!

Staff Achievement

I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the efforts of two of our teachers.

Leonie Bettiol and Norm Grimmett attended a Department of Education event on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate and commemorate teachers who had given 35 years of dedicated service in education. We were very proud that Leonie and Norm were acknowledged at this event and would add our sincere message of congratulations to two highly dedicated teachers who have given so much to the students they have taught over this considerable timespan.

Well done Leonie and Norm!

John Roberts

Principal

Census Data Collection – Student Family Occupation and Updating Family Details

Every year the Department of Education conduct a census which helps determine the level of our schools’ student-based funding.

To ensure that the College is able to continue to provide quality programs and an efficient learning environment for our students it relies on being supported by Department funding. Student Family Occupation details are an important component used by DET to formulate our correct level of funding. These details are originally collected on your child’s enrolment form but are often not up to date.

For this census to be accurate we ask that all family details are up to date, including parent occupation and occupation code, employer and all contact details. Please complete the data collection form, even if you believe your details have not changed, and return to the College Reception as soon as possible. For assistance with identifying what occupation code to use please refer to the attached document.

It is also vital that families maintain up to date contact information. If your details change we ask that you please complete the Change of Details Form (below) and return to Reception or via email to east.doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au

Donations to Building/Library Fund

Making a tax-deductible donation to our Building and Library Funds before June 30 is a great way to boost your tax return while making a lasting impact on our school.

We are moving ahead with plans to improve some of our older buildings and also build covered walkways between portables so students and staff don’t get wet on rainy days getting to class. We also need to regularly replenish our stock in the library and feed the wide and varied appetite for reading that so many of our students have.

If you would like to contribute, you can complete a payment envelope or pay via EFTPOS at the General Office.

Tax Receipts for all donations over $2.00 will be issued after 1 July via email. Feel free to contact the office if you have any queries.

Curriculum Contributions Year 10-12 Subjects

Curriculum Contributions for Year 10-12 subjects are on Compass and we invite parents to support our extensive electives program which provides options and opportunities for those in our Senior School.

East Doncaster Secondary College provides classroom consumables, materials and equipment for items and activities that students use, or participate in, to access the curriculum and we invite you to make a contribution for the elective subjects that your child is studying.

Please refer to the attached document for instructions on how to do this:-

Your financial assistance enables us to enrich and extend the learning experiences of our students.

We thank you for your generous support.

Parent Payment arrangements for 2023

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Please find attached the Parent Payment arrangements for 2023. They are available for payment via Compass on your home page under “Course Confirmation/Payments”.

Alternatively, payments can be made directly to the College via credit card or cash using the College Payment Envelope. Please ensure you download the attached form for the appropriate 2023 year level. Payment envelopes can be dropped off at the College in the locked drop box at Reception.

Your ongoing support of the College allows us to continue to offer a broad range of programs and enhanced curriculum experiences.

Please refer to the attached Parent Payments Policy and further links to information via https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/parent-payment/policy

Advertise in our College Newsletter

Do you have a business or are you part of a community organisation?

Do you want to reach over 1,000 families in the area every fortnight?

Our fortnightly e-newsletter has space available at either A5 or full page and can include direct links to your website (no social media sites).

Pricing:

$25 - A5 size per edition

$50 - A4 full page per edition

$10 – for community groups A5 size per edition

$200 - per term

$700 - per year

Email the attached form to

east.doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au or contact us on 9842-2244 for more information.

College Philosophy

At East Doncaster Secondary College we have a strong tradition of academic excellence and we aim to promote and sustain a reflective learning culture. We want students to experience a sense of achievement and growth in their academic, personal, social and emotional development. We have high expectations of our students’ commitment to being mutually supportive and striving for success as learners. We are proudly multicultural with a student population from 43 nationalities including a number of International Students. 68% of our students speak a language other than English at home.

A student’s life at school is full of opportunities, being rich and varied with a range of co-curricular activities in music, sport, productions, debating, clubs as well as camps and international experiences for the educational and personal development of students. Our students are vibrant, energetic, and talented young people. There are many student leadership opportunities and we aim to continue to increase student access to decision-making and self-determination as learners.

We endeavour to create a "Culture of Curiosity" with goals of ensuring learning improvement for every student – every student, every period, every day.

Our school’s purpose is to develop passionate learners who are critical thinkers with the confidence and capability to engage in the global community.

Care and Compassion, Curiosity, Excellence, Fairness, Resilience, Respect and Teamwork are the core values that underpin the culture of our school as we embrace the challenges of 21st Century learning.

We aim to sustain a learning culture that provides every student with a sense of achievement and of being their best in their academic, personal, social and emotional development.

Privacy and Data at East Doncaster Secondary College - Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website on the Policy Documents page. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use platforms such as Compass, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese

International Student News

In the Spirit of Athletics Day