Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Year of Review and New Strategic Plan

Great schools regularly evaluate their progress. They pause to reflect, undertaking a thorough analysis of the available data to look back on how well the human, financial, physical and information resources of the school have been deployed to achieve the goals and priorities in the school’s strategic plan.

As mentioned in my last newsletter article, following the accountability cycle set for Victorian government schools, Mordialloc College is up for external review this year. The current strategic plan is for 2017-2020, thus the focus of the review is to reflect on the past three – four years' data and performance in relation to the goals and targets set in two broad student outcome areas of Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and Positive Climate for Learning with targets set in relation to Student Achievement, Engagement (including pathways and transitions) and Wellbeing; and then we work with an external reviewer and challenge partners to assist us in forming the priorities for the development of our next strategic plan.

Thorough self-evaluation is an essential first step in a broader cycle of performance monitoring and review. The self-evaluation is a significant opportunity for discussion, consultation and feedback across the whole school community, with an opportunity for active contribution and leadership from students, staff and parents.

During the period of self-evaluation we will undergo as a school during Term 1 we will be guided by the following questions:

What are we doing well and should keep doing?
What factors supported our achievement of the goals? (Enablers)
What factors prevented achievement of the goals? (Barriers)
How can we improve things further?
What would we like to see our school doing well in four years’ time?
What do we need to do to make it happen?

I will be running parent, student and staff forums to gather feedback from all stakeholders throughout the review process, with the parent forum and 2019 Year 12 students (former students) set for Wednesday 4 March at 7pm in the Hub. I will provide regular reminders of this in the lead up and I encourage you to attend.

I have asked the Year Level Coordinators for a random sample of students to participate in the following forums:

Senior School students focus group Year 11 and 12 (Year 10 and 11 2019) - Tuesday 3 March from 12.30 and lunchtime in PAC, lunch provided
Year 7 2020 focus group - Wednesday 11 March 10am in PAC, morning tea provided
Middle School students focus group Year 8, 9 and 10 (Year 7, 8 and 9 2019) - Friday 13 March from 12.30 and lunchtime

The forum will appear on their Compass timetable and we will also hand students a written invitation. Our school self-evaluation will provide an opportunity for the school community to reflect on our achievements, our strengths, and areas where improvement is needed. The self-evaluation and the review process will provide a powerful information base from which we can develop our new strategic directions for the next four year school strategic plan (2021-2024).

Leadership Induction Assembly

On Monday 17 February we formally recognised our students who have been successful in achieving a leadership position for this year, in a whole school assembly with parents who were able to attend and special guest speakers and presenters, Mr Tim Richardson, MP, Member for Mordialloc and Mr Mark Dreyfus, MP, and Federal Member for Isaacs. Students were presented with their leadership badge from the College and a leadership certificate from Mr Dreyfus. I am proud of the leadership structure we have in place at Mordialloc College, with many opportunities being available to our students. This includes School Captains, Middle School Captains, Year 12 leaders, House leaders from both sub-schools and SRC representatives from each home group/mentor group for a total of over 60 leadership roles. I congratulate all students who were prepared to nominate and go through the selection process.

The College community acknowledges the crucial role that leadership at every level throughout the school plays in continuing to give a forum for student voice and providing opportunities for student led initiatives; and in inspiring pride in the College and in reinforcing the importance of setting high expectations in everything we do.

I expect all our student leaders to be positive role models, both in school and out in the community. This will involve leading by example on a daily basis through proudly demonstrating our agreed College values of Personal Best, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility in all actions and behaviours; and inspiring others to seek leadership opportunities in the future.

Student Leadership Team

Senior School

College Captains – Elisa Barone & Jack Phillpotts

College Vice Captains- Noreigh Zuniga & Ava Collison

VCAL Captain – Georgia McLeish

Environmental Captains – Zoe Pegrum & Sarah Murray

Visual Arts Captain – Ella Price

Performing Arts Captain – Eboni Kewin & Luke Holland

Sports Captains – Jack Alacqua & Madeleine Mead

Special Events Captains – Claudia Lennox & Ricardo Provenzale

International Students Captain – Linly Louanglath

House Captains

Bunurong – Carter Fox

Iwala – Calvin Lee

Kalura – Immogen Mc Kendry

Yerlonga – James Vicendese

Middle School

Middle School Captains: Madi Galland & Jeremy Thai- Chan

Middle School Vice-Captain