Oak News

Principal's Report 

Term 1: Principal Report

As the term draws to a close, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to our school throughout the term by supporting our students and each other with the complexities of staffing, re-establishing the learning culture and dealing with the challenges presented by COVID, which has touched us all. 

 

To be able to be onsite, amongst our school community after the disruptions and hybrid learning has been incredible and has given us some sense of normality back in our lives.  Having said this, I am also conscious that many of our families and staff have been impacted throughout the term by the ongoing COVID situation – as positive cases or household contacts. I wish to thank all families for their timely communications to the school, assisting us to keep monitoring our COVID safe practices and keeping our community informed.   Most certainly the work of our Director of Students, Wellbeing Team, Teaching staff, Education Support staff and our administrative team have been tremendous in ensuring that both our absent students and staff have been supported throughout this time, as they have been isolated away from school.  

 

Despite these challenges, the school has been an energetic and enthusiastic environment providing opportunities for student engagement in a variety of activities throughout the term including: 

  • our House Swimming and Athletics Carnivals 
  • Interschool Sport, Interschool Debating and Interschool Chess Competitions 
  • Harmony Day  
  • The YLA Secondary Student Leadership Conference 
  • Club and Enrichment Activities 
  • Camps 
  • Excursions 
  • and of course our annual Community Action Day Walkathon.  

As I write our Walkathon total, in support of the Monash Children’s Hospital School, has exceeded our expectations of $15,000 and has moved well past $17,500, with Keira Vincent (Grevillea) and Nathan Cohen (Waratah) leading the charge having raised over $1,000 and rising. It makes me proud to have so many from our community come together and support this worthy cause. 

 

I would also like to thank everyone who contributed and attended our Open Night - it was our night to showcase our College to prospective students and their families, demonstrating how we are continuing our positive educational journey and celebrating what our wonderful school and community can offer those who join us in the future.   

Music – does it make your smarter 

Last week we were thrilled with a concert performed by our own students, as part of the Instrumental Music Program.  The concert was facilitated by our Performing Arts Prefects Sophia Donnellon and Julia Creeley as well as our Instrumental Music staff led by Aidan Prewett and supported by Adelle Oppedisano, Sam Bennett and Marc Law. They are to be congratulated for the work and effort to support our students to deliver a fantastic live performance. 

 We look forward to more of these performances in Term 2 and beyond. It was great to see our students performing their best, demonstrating their skills and passion for music. We also thank all staff and students who not only enjoyed the performances but encouraged our students on the day and now look forward to future performances and music events over the next three terms.   

For those who may still want to join the program, there are many benefits to learning an instrument that can be transferred to other subjects and facets of life. It is great teamwork to be part of ensembles and choirs and allows students across the year levels to mix. Research to support the preface that music makes you smarter can be found in many articles but here are a few I found which say that: 

 

Playing music gives the brain a multisensory “workout” that can strengthen memory, help us pay attention, and perhaps even improve reading ability.  

 

The following articles highlight the benefits of playing music; take the time to read these if you are interested: 

  

Music and Learning: Does Music Make You Smarter?  https://kids.frontiersin.org › articles › frym.2020.00081   

https://qbi.uq.edu.au/blog/2018/01/does-music-make-us-smarter   

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thinking-about-kids/201503/music-probably-doesnt-make-kids-smarter-so-what  

School Council Election Results

Following our recent School Council ballot, I am delighted to announce that our Parent representative vacancies have been filled and now include:  

  • Anastasia Krozian 
  • Robyn Steele  
  • Mark Schramm 

Our incoming Student Representative is Nathan Cohen (Year 10), who together with Jack Knight (Year 8) looks forward to representing all aspects of the student body at the School Council.    

 

Our two DET Employee vacancies were filled by Phyllis Dimakakos and Anthony Katsianos (Assistant Principal) who were elected unopposed.  

 

I would also like to thank all our out-going councillors, Andrew Robinson who has been a strong advocate of South Oakleigh College and served on the council for the last 6 years and Inbal Rodnay Steinberg who has been served on the council for the last two years. Their contribution has been greatly appreciated by me and our community, particularly as we manoeuvred through lockdowns and virtual meetings. 

 

At the March Meeting of Council, the Executive was also re-elected: 

 • Mitzi Sneesby – President  

• Greg Dellas – Treasurer    

 

I thank Mitzi and Greg for their commitment and significant contributions to Council and look forward to our work together throughout 2022.  On the same evening School Council also endorsed the South Oakleigh College 2021 School Annual Report, and our 2022 Annual Implementation Plan during the meeting. These significant documents outline our performance over the past 12 months on several measures, as well as our priorities for ‘Learning and Wellbeing’. These documents will be uploaded on our website for our own, and the wider community’s access. 

 

Building Works Update

It is with great excitement that I inform our community that building works have commenced on our new Locker Bays located adjacent to the new shade sails near the canteen. Works will take 3-4 months and allow us to have approximately 400 students in external lockers areas.

And just this week our builders are on site to commence works on the redevelopment of the Gymnasium and the building of the new STEM Centre. This is a significant project and will provide our students with outstanding learning environments. More details on the project with be in future Newsletters.

Thank You 

I would also like to thank Anna Proy, who shadowed me over the last four weeks as an intern.  Anna’s research project whilst at South Oakleigh College looked at activating greater Student Voice and Agency at the College. She interviewed students across all year levels and presented her results to the Leadership Team.  It provided us with insightful student voice data and ideas to help us grow in this area. Her work is also presented further in this newsletter. 

 

I wish our staff, students and their families a safe and enjoyable holiday break and look forward to all of us returning refreshed and ready for another term of learning, reflection and engagement. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helen Koziaris

College Principal

 

Oakleigh Education Plan 

You may have heard that our school is part of the Oakleigh Education Plan. This initiative brings together local schools across primary and secondary to improve education outcomes for local students and provide them with more learning opportunities than ever before.

Since the plan’s launch in 2020, we’ve been working with our colleagues at Huntingdale Primary School and Oakleigh South Primary School to create a learning precinct that brings together the expertise and resources of our three schools.

Some highlights from Term 1 include:

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

· Teacher development workshops that upskill their understanding of STEM learning and how to improve student engagement with STEM.

· Strengthening our partnership with Monash Tech School so that students have access to the best teaching and world-class facilities.

o Year 7 students attended a Superspace class, where they used design thinking and creativity to design spacesuits tailored to a specific space brief including engaging in prototyping and problem-solving processes. Student feedback from this program was extremely positive

o Senior students attended Smart Foods Industry Immersion Day at Yakault. Industry Immersion experiences are built around activities that enable students to gain insights into different employment sectors and understand important skill sets so they can make informed decisions about future pathways, opportunities and occupations.

Japanese

· Our school and Oakleigh South Primary secured a grant to employ a Local Native-Language Speaking Assistant in 2022. This assistant will support our students learn Japanese and provide an invaluable cultural experience.

· Bringing together our Japanese teachers to share their teaching and learning strategies and approaches, not only in language learning but also in learning across the curriculum

· Examining ways to further strengthen and deepen Japanese language learning and engagement across the Learning Precinct with a particular focus on opportunities for secondary students.

Looking ahead to term 2

In term 2, the Oakleigh Education Plan portal will be launched on our school website. This will be a space for students, teachers, and broader school communities to keep with the latest news, student learning activities, events, and achievements.

This site will offer articles, photos, videos, a calendar of upcoming events and links to related sites and initiatives,

We will also release the next edition of the OEP Scoop – our community focused newsletter that shares the fantastic work across the learning precinct and puts a spotlight on our initiatives. Ensure you are subscribed for the next edition.

 

Peter Hough 

Project Manager | Oakliegh Education Plan - Inner East