Newsletter 

EDUCATION

Student Leadership 2022 

Developing student leadership opportunities across the whole school has been a key focus for SCSC over the last few years, after an interrupted 2020 and 2021 we have taken the opportunity to restructure our Student Leadership teams to provide more students with opportunities to develop their leadership skills and improve student voice and agency across all year levels.  

 

While we continue to have our traditional School Captains, we have added some new positions and leadership groups in all year levels.  

Middle School Captains

The Middle School captains were selected from the Year 9 cohort in a process where the Year 9 students and their teachers were able to select two students to represent the Junior School cohort (Yr 7 to 9). These middle school captains will work with the senior school captains in all areas of students leadership eg. running assemblies, meeting with the principal team, involvement in SRC and Year Level Cultural Committees. 

Cultural Committees  

To promote student leadership in each year level we have created year level Cultural Committees. The committee will consist of students from that year level who are interested in student leadership and want to develop initiatives to further improve their year level. 

 

A teacher from each year level will work with the Cultural Committee to mentor the students and facilitate meetings throughout the year. The students will focus on different areas depending on their year level needs. 

Some examples may include: 

  • Developing a Year Level focus based on students Attitudes to School Survey Data. eg. Student Motivation, Stimulating Learning 
  • Giving teachers feedback on assessment tasks, working with teachers to developing future lessons/assessment tasks (Curriculum Committees) 
  • Involvement in Student Forums
  • Planning and running Year Level activities eg. Wellbeing Days, Sports Days, Year Level Assemblies, Cultural Days (IDAHOBIT, Bullying No Way, R U OK Day, Harmony Day)  

These groups will meet regularly during the term and work together to develop student voice and agency within their year level. 

Student Representative Council (SRC)

Our Student representative council will consist of students from all year levels, two students from each Yr Level Cultural Committee and our Senior School Leaders. The SRC will look to develop whole school improvement initiatives and share what they have been doing in the Year Level Curriculum Committees. These meetings will be facilitated by one of our Learning Specialist Teachers (Positive Climate for Learning) and various members of the Principal Team. The focus of the SRC will be shared with the student cohort, School Council and the wider school community at various times during the year.  

We will be working with VicSRC to develop a strong and meaningful SRC group and have already had our online VicSRC Introduction Training Session on March 16th. 

(See picture below of our online training session)

The SRC will meet 3 times during the term and work together to develop student voice and agency across the whole school.  

 

Congratulations to all students who are involved in our students leadership program for 2022! 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tutoring Homework Club

Please come along on Tuesday afternoon for additional learning support.  All Surf Coast Secondary students are able to access additional support on Tuesday afternoons between 3pm and 4pm at our  Tutoring Homework Club in the Inspire Studio 1.

Literacy and Numeracy Support at S.C.S.C

Surf Coast Secondary College is pleased to be part of the Department of Education Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS) initiative. The initiative gives intensive teaching support to identified students in years 8-10 who are at risk of finishing school without the literacy and numeracy skills they need for future work, education and training. Students who are part of the program will receive tailored learning plans based on their individual needs.

 

The MYLNS initiative gives students and teachers additional support to improve their literacy and numeracy, building on the hard work that S.C.S.C is already doing to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students. This is conducted with the support of the MYLNS Numeracy and/or Literacy Improvement Teachers, who work directly with students, and build the capability of other teachers to improve the literacy and numeracy of students at our school.

 

As a MYLNS team, we will also be working to support families in engaging students in literacy and numeracy activities in contexts that are relevant to your young person’s experiences and interests. Please find below some suggested literacy and numeracy strategies for home.

 

NUMERACY AT HOME:

  • Cooking: Choose a recipe and change the servings. How much of each ingredient is needed?
  • Reading: Discover numeracy in news articles or infographics by selecting an article that interests the student and discuss the meaning in the data.
  • Food labels: Compare the nutrition information panels of products and consider, for example, recommended daily intake of sugar and carbohydrates.
  • Home improvement: involve young people in calculating materials needed, estimating cost and ordering materials.
  • Play games: Board games and card games have a wide range of numeracy skills and strategies in them. A family games night is a great way to get everyone involved in the learning and fun.
  • The weekly shop: Calculate the weekly shop online, challenge your family to see who can come up with the most savings by selecting the most cost effective items. The winner may receive a tasty treat!

LITERACY AT HOME:

  • Continue to encourage them to write for everyday skills. This includes writing recipes, family messages, shopping lists and greeting cards.
  • Persuasive writing will become a focus at school. Encourage your students to read or watch news articles and write down their opinions and ideas about specific issues.
  • Read a book or magazine together and discuss the story. What meaning does the student take from the piece of text? 
  • Write a blog on a hobby or interest.
  • Write letters to post to friends and family members.
  • Play online word games like scattergories: https://swellgarfo.com/scattergories/

Happy learning!

 

Andrea Loving (Numeracy), Stephen Fenwick (Numeracy), Jacqueline Fenwick (Literacy) and Sheridan Graham (Literacy)

Tutor Learning Initiative continues at Surf Coast SC in 2022

Surf Coast SC is delighted that the Victorian Government has continued the Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) in 2022. This initiative was designed to address the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning and engagement in Victoria.

 

The extension of the initiative allows Surf Coast SC to continue to provide our students who need it most with targeted TLI learning support during the school year. Despite the continued challenges we and schools across Victoria have faced this year, the TLI has ensured that students, who may have fallen behind, become disengaged or missed opportunities for extension receive the help they need. 

How are students selected?

Teachers identify students through a needs based system by utilising school data, observations and prior knowledge of student backgrounds. Selected students may need support in a variety of areas including intervention in Literacy and Numeracy areas, support in reengaging with classroom activities or extension in specific subject areas.

What does tutoring look like at Surf Coast SC?

We are very fortunate to have 4 highly qualified teachers working in our tutoring program. Our tutors work alongside students in the classroom for a 6 to 8 week cycle. Our tutors create learning goals with students and support with the activities and learning in the classroom. Students may sometimes participate in small group work or individually with tutors. This will be dependent on the needs of each students. 

How will I know if my child has been selected?

Parents/carers receive a Compass notification that your child has been selected for the Tutoring Program. Parents/carers are required to give consent for students to participate in the program.

 

We look forward to continuing the TLI program throughout 2022 by providing small group learning support that will enable our students to flourish now and in the future.