From the Principal
Students in years 7 and 9 completed NAPLAN last week. To engage students in Year 9, a Certificate of Achievement will be awarded by the Department of Education to students who achieve outstanding results or who significantly improve their results in either Literacy or Numeracy or both.
Our Year 9 students have also participated in ‘Career Insights’. This is an online profiling tool to assist them in planning for their future. In the next couple of weeks, each student will meet with an independent career counsellor to discuss the results of this profiling. A Morrisby profiling report will also be provided for each student.
‘My Career Portfolio’ is available to all government school students in years 7-12. This program is designed to support students with resources to capture their career goals and plans. Currently students at Year 7, 9, 11 and 12 have updated their career action plans. Students at Year 8 and 10 will complete their plans later in the term.
We have had a number of excursions and camps going out. The Year 8 camp was a highlight for many students. Our senior Physics students have experimented at Luna Park, whilst students in middle school tree surfed and went snorkelling.
Year 7 Science classes visited the Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale to intoduce students classification and ecosystems unit.
Students had "hand-on" interaction with wallabies, kangaroos and pademelons.
The staff at the Moonlit Sanctuary were wonderful and talked to the students about food chains and discussed the scientific naming of animals.
Our students have also been very active on the sporting field. We have had a very busy start to term 2 with lots of events already for our students to get involved in. Our Athletics Team competed at Division Athletics and finished 2nd overall, whilst our Senior Teams competed in their Term 2 Division sport, of which we had 3 teams advance to SMR finals. Additionally, we just had our Year 7 boy’s tennis team advance to the state finals, which they will compete in later in the year. Cross Country has also been run, and we took a team of approximately 100 students to compete in the Division Cross Country Championships.
Our squads are having fantastic participation across the board – including over 50 students
attending the football program for the first time. We are currently offering Aerobics,
Soccer, Netball, Football, Cricket, Golf, Basketball, Swimming, Running and Human Powered Vehicle – I think there would be very few schools in the state that could boast to have that many opportunities for their students. We are excited to announce that we are looking at expressions of interest for a college surf team!
We have just started up a lunchtime activity called ‘Social Sport’ where the stadium is set up for particular year levels each day with a focus on making new friends or strengthening existing friendships – this has proved to be really successful so far.
We have also developed some really good relationships with the local primary schools and have many of our sports leaders and ambassadors assisting in their sports programs, which is great for not only the students to develop their leadership, but also for our students to be helping in their local community.
Our ANZAC day ceremony was fantastic and the College Captains were extremely professional. It was attended by many dignitaries including Mayor Councillor Despi O’Connor, The Honorable Greg Hunt MP and Mr David Morris MP as well as representatives from Mornington RSL, Rotary and Lions Clubs. Greg Hunt congratulated the College community and let us know how much he enjoyed the ceremony.
The Tutor Learning Initiative is fully operational with more than 200 students spending time with a Tutor supporting their learning, As the initiative develops more students will be approached to join the program. This could be small group work or working on an individual basis; depending on the need of the student. Teachers are working in professional learning teams focussing on current units of work, sharing best practice teaching strategies and using student data to personalise the learning experience for their students. They are now working collaboratively in professional learning teams to identify where and when the development of these essential skills begin.
The Victorian Education Department declared today a pupil free day. From Monday 31st May, all scheduled classes will continue remotely. All subject teachers will conduct their classes via Microsoft Teams so teaching and learning can continue.
Masks are now mandatory in all indoor spaces. School staff and secondary school students aged 12 or older must carry a face mask at all times and wear a face mask indoors when at school.
Linda Stanton
Principal