College Matters
Valedictory Dinner
This year our Year 12 students will be farewelled and receive recognition for their outstanding achievements at their Valedictory Dinner on Tuesday 23 October. The successful award recipients will be notified soon.
Presentation Evening
The students in Years 7 to 11 will receive their awards for outstanding achievement at Presentation Evening on Tuesday 27 November. The successful recipients will be notified later in term 4.
The awards recognise and celebrate academic excellence, acknowledgement of personal endeavour, citizenship and leadership and contribution to the co-curricular music, drama and sporting programs. The awards are sponsored by the Parents and Friends’ Association, the Past Students’ Association, School Council, some private endowments and companies who do regular business with the college.
All parents are invited to attend Presentation Evening. The link to the booking site will be made available soon. There is no cost for this event.
Learning Tasks and End of Year Reports
In 2017 Mentone Girls’ Secondary College introduced continuous assessment and reporting. The purpose of this was to provide students and their families with timely results and feedback, to encourage student learning and development throughout a semester and to engage parents in their child’s learning journey.
This semester teachers have been transitioning to providing feedback on Common Assessment Tasks though the use of rubrics and dot points. The rubric for a particular CAT will show each student’s specific level of achievement against particular criteria. Written feedback focuses on specific advice for each student which will provide them with strategies that can be utilised in order to improve. This written feedback may be written in prose or through the use of dot points.
The End of Year Report provides summary information on each student’s progress throughout Semester 2. This will include levels of achievement measured against the Victorian Curriculum Standards (7 – 10), satisfactory achievement of outcomes (VCE) and work habits (7-11). The report will show the grade for each CAT which has been completed in Semester 2, however no comments will appear on reports. To access the written feedback which has been completed throughout the semester please access the learning tasks tab in the Compass Platform.
More information on assessment and reporting at MGSC can be found in the Assessment and reporting Guide for Families on the college website
https://mgsc.vic.edu.au/curriculum/assessment-and-reporting-guide-for-parents/
This guide is also on Compass parent portal.
Wellbeing
The Federal government has recently introduced an initiative to increase wellbeing support for students in schools. Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, has additional funding and is able to provide clinicians in some schools.
We welcome Megan Theuma, psychologist, to our Wellbeing team at MGSC. Megan will provide counselling/therapy on-site each Wednesday. Referral for this additional service can be arranged through contacting our Student Wellbeing Coordinators (Leona Thomson and Christine Fay) on 9581 5200.
This is a fantastic initiative which will provide further support and intervention to our students in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.
Ban on Food Delivery
Uber Eats and other similar delivery services are not allowed at MGSC. We have a duty of care for our students and our Visitors policy does not allow for food deliveries.
We do not know who the delivery people are, whether they have the appropriate 'Working with Children Checks' certification or whether the food is allergen free. We cannot take the risk for the safety of our school community by allowing food deliveries. Teachers on yard duty will confiscate food deliveries in future.
Upcoming Reunions
The Past Students' Association will be holding reunions for the Class of 2003 (15 years) and Class of 1998 (20 years) on Thursday 25 October. A contribution of $10 goes towards light food and drinks. More information or RSVP to psa@mgsc.vic.edu.au or see the PSA's Facebook page @MGSC.Past.Students by Monday 22 October.
Ms Carol Duggan & Ms Bronwyn Moline
Assistant Principals