Welcome message

I would like to warmly welcome all members of the Koonung community to the 2018 school year. I hope everyone is rested and relaxed and ready for a successful year. Classes are running well and students and staff have begun the year with a positive mindset. We are becoming familiar with the new ten period timetable structure, which has resulted in more contact time for all core subjects in both the Middle and Senior School curriculum. The Curriculum Leadership team is responding to any issues which have arisen through feedback from students and staff and parents are welcome to communicate any observations also.

Our new Year 7 students have begun their secondary schooling with enthusiasm and are enjoying their Orientation Camp this week. I visited the campsite at Campaspe Downs yesterday with our Year 12 student leadership team and was impressed to see the Year 7’s working together, challenging themselves and forming new friendships. The camp is running smoothly and our staff are being supported by a group of past students who have taken time out from their University preparation to contribute to this important school program. It is always impressive to observe past students, new students, current student leaders and staff members building positive relationships together.

I would like to again congratulate the 2017 Year 12 cohort and all the Koonung staff on the strong results which were achieved. The school median was 31, with 164 students achieving their VCE certificate after a long year of hard work and dedication to their studies. I would also like to acknowledge the achievement of Anna McLean, the Dux of the College who earned an ATAR score of 99.90, including a perfect score of 50 for English. Anna has accepted a place at Monash University to study Medicine. Our International students also performed extremely well with the top score of 99.35 and a Median ATAR of 85.25.

The Year 11 students who completed a Year 12 subject performed strongly and should be well prepared for Year 12 in 2018. In fact, 21% of the Year 11 students earned a study score above 40.

In short there were many individual successes for the class of 2017, not just based on an ATAR score, and I wish our students well as they move into the world of tertiary study, work and travel.

Our goal as a college is to continue developing and improving these strong results together.

At the end of the year I was asked by a prospective parent what Koonung stood for as a community and various other questions about us. I was also reflecting on some of the issues being discussed in the media, such as law and order, education, immigration, racial profiling, so called Australian values, gender equity and our relationship with our indigenous people. Many of these messages presented by the media and some politicians were based on stereotypes with the possibility of creating conflict and disharmony. This led me to ask- Who are we, the Koonung Community? There are two parts to this question- where do we come from as individuals to this collective and secondly what is our culture or the basis of our Koonung Way?

So Koonung Secondary College – who are we in 2018?

Koonung Secondary College turns 54 in 2018.

This year we are a community of 949 students, 73 teachers and 28 education support staff.

We welcome international students from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

44% of Koonung students are female and 56% male.

Our largest year level is Year 7, with 170 students.

We have 143 students in Year 12.

34 languages other than English are spoken in the homes of Koonung students. These include Arabic, Fasi, Cantonese, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Mandarin, Spanish and Vietnamese.

If we explore the background of our staff it will add to this diversity.

If we think about the different paths and experiences taken by our families to Koonung it is a credit to us that we have formed such a peaceful, calm learning environment. We have a strong and vibrant student leadership team, dedicated staff and many opportunities for students to work together to achieve great things. Our results are strong, our visual and performing arts, sports and co-curriculum programs are fantastic and we should be proud of who we are and what we have and can achieve. Generally, I believe, we have a culture of collaboration and respect, however, I feel we can do even better as a community by striving to know and understand each other more fully. Some members of our community may not always feel as included and comfortable as they would like.

We need to be open to learning by sharing with and listening to the stories, opinions and beliefs of others. Being open to learning does not mean changing your beliefs but respecting difference and having empathy for another perspective.

My family background is a diverse one also, both sets of my grandparents came to Australia from Europe after the devastation of the Second World War. I remember distinctly as a child having family dinners with my mother’s parents who came from Holland. My mother would not let us leave the table until the adults had finished eating and my grandmother was the slowest eater in the world. (or so it seemed to me, I felt as though she chewed every mouth full 100’s of times). I once complained to my mother about it and she explained to me that during the war they almost starved to death and they survived on very little food. My grandmother often went without to give what was available to her children. She had a lot of meals which were based only on potato peels, which require much chewing. She chewed her food very thoroughly to make it last during that time and the habit had stayed with her. My irritation at this became admiration and led me to seek out more information from my grandmother about her experiences in the war. Through those conversations I discovered that she was one of the most courageous, resourceful and resilient people I know. I developed tremendous admiration for her, I just needed to ask to understand.

So when I am asked about who we are and what we stand for I would like to say that we are a high performing, diverse yet peaceful, inclusive community which demonstrates our school values by working together respectfully whilst thinking creatively in an effort to reach excellence.

Have a great term everyone.

Marianne Lee

Principal

Staff changes

The start of a school year always brings many changes. In addition to extending a very warm welcome to 170 Year 7 students we welcome a large number of new and returning students to every year level and many new and returning staff.

In particular, we would like to introduce the following staff who are new to our College community:

Kelly Szlachetko – Food Technology
William Emerson – HPE/Science
Brandon Wood – HPE
Amanda Huang – Languages – Chinese
Nathan Carter – English
Anna Barnes – Biology/Science
Kirby Sens - Art/Textiles
Alyson Murray - Instrumental Music, Voice
Elizabeth Rossmann – Library Resources Manager
Karen Riding – Careers and Pathways
Ewa Oaten - Counsellor
Mathew Douglas - Maintenance/Facilities

The following staff are returning after extended periods of leave:

Colleen Siomos – Humanities
Georgia Asvestas – Humanities
Tara MacDonald – Science

Organisational changes

Please see below changes to leadership roles:

Director of Learning, Middle School - Darren Marsh

Director of Learning, Senior School - Fiona Kyrkou

Director of Learning, Engagement & Leadership - Stuart Kofoed(Term 1)/Allira Howe

Director of Learning, Curriculum Innovation - Mary Eade

Director of Learning, Data & Performance - Marilyn Faithfull

Director of Learning, Learning Enhancement - Michael Oaten

Director of Learning, Operations Assessment & Reporting - Josh Pearce, Michael Kyrkou

Learning Specialist(HD): Pedagogical Coach + TAPP (funded UoM) - Jane Thornton

Middle School Coordination Year 7/Assistant Manager - Michael Kyrkou (Term 1), Stuart Kofoed

Middle School Coordination, Year 8 - Stephanie Grant

Middle School Coordination, Year 9 - Alistair Tuffnell

Senior School Coordination, Year 11 & Assistant Manager - Chris Sheehan

Senior Coordination, Year 12 - Trevor vandenDriesen

Senior Coordination, Year 10 - Michael Harte

Live Life - Nicole Moussi and Kate Hindell

Arts & Technology Domain Leader - Helen Briffa

English Domain Leader - Tori Nokes

Humanities Domain Leader - Pauline Volpe

Languages Domain Leader - Paul Dailey

Maths Domain Leader - Ben Cantwell

Science Domain Leader - Craig Canning

STEAM (Science, Technology, English and Mathematics) and eLearning Leader - Anthony Hasseldine

Instrumental Music & Performance - David Forward

Interschool Sports & Carnivals - Andrew Mangonis

Debating - Jonathan Moore and Anthony Hindle

Lunchtime Activities - Shaun Sanderson

Sandra Greenhill

Assistant Principal

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