Principal's Update
Dear Families, Students and Community members,
Victorian Education Excellence Awards
It was certainly a huge honour to not only win the Outstanding Secondary Principal award but also the Lindsay Thompson Award for Excellence in Education.
The awards ceremony for all finalists was on Friday October 25 in the city but I had elected to attend the Year 12 Valedictory dinner instead. They actually sent a film crew to our Valedictory Dinner venue so I was given a fairly good hint that I might be winning the Outstanding Secondary School Principal award. I was called out of the room as this was being announced live at the Regent. Our former SEIL, Jennifer McCrabb attended the ceremony and accepted the award on my behalf. Then there is the overall winner from all the winners across all categories. The Lindsay Thompson Award for Excellence in Education. It’s the highest accolade an individual can win in State Education. They crossed live to me at the dinner in a private room and interviewed me on the spot and I could see the crowd at the Regent clapping.
Here is a link to a video they made last term in case I won the overall award.
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/awards/Pages/veeawinners.aspx
Total prize money is $40,000 in the form of a professional learning grant. I need to consider carefully how this will be best spent and submit a budget plan for 2020-2021 by the end of the year for Departmental approval.
It is a privilege to be Principal of Mordialloc College and a Principal within the state education system. I have asked a lot of my community over the past nine years and I am so proud of what my staff and students have been able to achieve at Mordialloc during this time to make it a leading choice in education for our local community and beyond.
Region Performance Review
On Friday 25 October I was asked to speak at the Region Performance review held in Pakenham in front of the Education Board and all key personal from South East Victoria. Earlier this year I was invited to speak about our VCE English results and this time it was about Mordialloc College being highlighted as an exemplar again with our Year 9 Reading results and continual improvement of percentage of students in the top 2 bands.
Senior School Exams and Whole School Head Start program
We are into the second week of Year 12 exams and all is running smoothly. Thanks to Jo Greenhalgh, Robyn Wilson and Tim Randell for their work in the lead up to ensure the efficient organisation of the exams working alongside our chief exam supervisor Peta Wragg. Year 11 and 10 students started their exams on Wednesday 6 November and they conclude on 15 November. Year 9 have exams during the week of 11-15 November with normal classes running when exams aren’t on. From the 18 November we begin our whole school rollover or 2020 Headstart program for Years 11 and 12 students, Year 10 start mid-week and Years 8-9 the following Monday. From feedback received last year we have reduced the length of the Years 8-10 headstart program, allowing some celebratory activities to occur before beginning the 2020 academic year. It is expected that all students returning to Mordialloc in 2020 attend these very important Headstart weeks. There will be holiday homework set in the Senior School and work expected to be submitted in the first week back next year.
The Senior School team will also be reviewing student achievement, effort and homework completion at the end of the third week to ensure students have made the correct subject selections and are on track for a successful year. A reminder that a 90% attendance rate is required to meet the requirements and expectations of VCE and any absence during Headstart will count towards your child’s record for Units 1 and 3. In the Middle School a benchmark task will be completed in core subjects during the three week period and this will count towards their assessment for 2020.
We have brought forward the Student Leadership selection process for Senior School and Middle School to tie into Headstart. A whole school assembly is planned during the second week of Headstart to highlight the start of 2020 and introduce our new captains. The formal leadership assembly where students are presented with their badges is still scheduled for Term 1 2020.
It’s Academic
An event we always look forward to is the annual Mordialloc College Academic Challenge for our feeder primary schools grade 5 students. This was held on Friday 1 November in the Year 7 LC. The event was run by our Middle School captains. This year we had five of our feeder primary schools competing in this challenge, in front of an audience of 200 students and staff from Year 7. It not only offers a unique taste of secondary school life, whilst making learning fun and relevant; it also provides valuable leadership and event management skills for our Year 9 Middle School leaders.
Congratulations to Aspendale PS who were the winners this year. Closely followed by Aspendale Gardens PS who were second and Mordialloc Beach PS third. I will be attending a whole school assembly at Aspendale PS in the next few weeks to present the trophy.
Thanks to Director of Middle School, Daniel Williams and our Middle School captains Tim Whitford, Emma Shultz, Daniel Loza, Laura Reeves and Rhianne Blavo for organising the event.
Ms. Michelle Roberts
Principal