Mini School Updates

Junior School Update

It has been a busy start to the term with our Open Day, NAPLAN for year 7s, Attitude to School Survey and Junior School Football and Volleyball Teams competing. 

It was fabulous to welcome local Primary Schools Grade 5 and 6 students and teachers to Lowanna for the day, especially given we had not been able to run our transition days for the last couple of years.  

Primary students attended a variety of classes throughout the day and loved the music concert that the VET music students put on for them. We had a number of current year 7 students volunteer to come in and support primary classes to find their way around the school and talk to students about what it is like to be a Lowanna student.  In addition, we also had VCAL students support the day by packing the show bags that primary school students took home with them and café culture students making coffees and helping to set up lunch for the teachers. I would like to thank all these students for volunteering their time and being such great representatives of the College. 

Our year 7 students have taken on the challenge of NAPLAN with a positive attitude. The feedback has been that students have done a great job of demonstrating the College Values by trying their best when completing the tests and behaving in a respectful manner. Well done and keep up the great work! 

The student attitudes to school survey has been conducted with all students over the past couple of weeks. We have been really pleased to see students approach this survey with maturity and provide considered feedback on their experiences as a Lowanna student. We look forward to the results of the survey which provide us with valuable information on student learning and how we can improve the College.

The Junior Team is thrilled that so many of our students have been recognised for demonstrating our college values.  To celebrate our student’s success, we are now running a weekly draw for a canteen voucher for one student at year 7 and 8 who have received a posi slip in that week. We continue to focus on the importance of being at school and will be recognising those students with high attendance at our next assembly.  

We continue our work with students on forming positive relationships both at school and in the community.  Year 7 and 8 students have attended a session on social safety and consent and continued the work on what makes respectful relationships. The focus of the first respectful relationships sessions this term has been how to identify our emotions and how to use positive self- talk. 

GPA’s will be available next week and as always, I encourage parents to review these with their child. This is a great opportunity to identify what is working well for students and to identify areas for improvement over the next GPA cycle. If you have any concerns regarding your child’s GPA please contact either their classroom teacher or year level coordinator.  

Kristy Bannister 

Junior School Leader

Middle School Update

I hope families enjoyed the break and have returned to school refreshed and ready for a strong finish to Semester 1.

We would like to congratulate the Year 9’s on their participation in the NAPLAN assessment, it was great to see the way you conducted yourselves during the test.

Our Year 9 Students also undertook the Morrisby Assessment program the week of May, 23rd. This is a very important first step in the students researching and planning for their future careers. The week starting June the 14th the students will have a one on one careers appointment with an external careers counsellor to go over their careers report. It is important that all students undertake this assessment. 

Our Year 10 students attended a Forum on Respectful Relationships in their study period, we hope that they were able to take away some positive insights of what this entails and may wish to have further discussions with parents at home.

Both Year 9 (English & Maths) and Year 10 (Core subjects, Serious about Science, Small Business and Accounting, Foundation VCAL and Introduction to the Law) will be participating in end of Semester exams, these are to be held the week of 6th of June. There are several reasons we run exams, amongst them are assessment of students learning, to experience an exam setting and the development of high expectations in our students.  These exams are compulsory; all students are required to sit them. Students will be given a full explanation of the process in the coming weeks.

After the exams we will begin the Semester 2 program.

We have been updating the chairs in Middle School, this has happened in a couple of classrooms so far with the hope of getting new chairs in all the Middle School rooms. Students seem to appreciate the new furnishings which we hope they will respect.

As winter approaches and the weather has already become cooler, we hope that students dress for the conditions in the appropriate uniform. If parents or students require assistance, please contact the Middle School office.

It was a pleasure to congratulate our next cycle of RIDGE awardees, these awards are for students who continually uphold the values of the school: Respect, Integrity, Determination, Growth and Excellence.

The Term 2 GPA’s will be posted shortly and with that I implore both parents and students to take the opportunity to reflect on their learning behaviours. If any parent or student require follow up, I would ask you to contact the relevant teacher or the Middle School office to speak with me.

I would also ask all students to try to achieve 100% attendance. While there are circumstances such as illnesses or family issues that are unavoidable, absences impact highly on student outcomes. If your student needs to be absent, please enter it on Compass or contact the Middle School on 51279246.

Darren Mitchell

Middle School Leader

Senior School Update

It certainly has been a busy start to Term 2, with our students participating in a wide variety of events and excursions.

The VCE University Camp took place in the first week of term. Around 50 of our Year 12 students attended this wonderful event where they were able to gain a better understanding of their options post Year 12. Students had campus visits to The University of Melbourne, Deakin University and Monash University. Students also attended the VCE Careers Expo at Caulfield Racecourse where they were able to see and speak with over 100 exhibitors and universities, helping them to gather information for their future career aspirations. This event was followed by a Tertiary Information Session at Federation University which showcased the local options for Lowanna students. It’s been great to hear the excitement and conversations following on from these events, as well as watching students plan the steps needed to help turn their dreams into reality.

With a large number of SAC’s currently taking place, it is important that students continue to work hard, utilise the expertise of their teachers and strive to do the best they possibly can. Next week both our Year 11 and 12 students will have presentations from Elevate Education, which aims to assist them in preparing for the upcoming examination period. Our Year 11 students will hear about techniques for self-motivation, the role of belief and self-efficacy in performance, developing a growth mindset, increasing motivation through goal attachment, and how to break goals into manageable tasks and deadlines. Our Year 12 students will hear about highest value exam preparation tasks, fixing mistakes to ensure constant improvement, time allocation during exam preparation and techniques for managing stress and time pressure in exams. A reminder that there are supervised study sessions open to all Senior School students that run every Monday and Wednesday until 4.30 pm.

All Year 11 and 12 students will be undertaking mid-year exams beginning on Friday 3 June. These exams will give students the opportunity to assess how they are travelling with their subjects to date. The exams provide an opportunity for feedback in regards to areas of concern and positive steps that students have taken throughout the past two terms. More information will be provided in the coming week.

Finally, a reminder about our basic College expectations. All students should be in full school uniform at all times. Senior students have the privilege of being able to go to the shop at lunchtime. Unfortunately, some students have been taking advantage of this and going during recess or spare periods. I would appreciate the support of all students in adhering to these guidelines, otherwise, the policy will be reassessed. Students are also expected to attend school unless they are unwell or have scheduled appointments that cannot be made outside of school time. It should be noted that in line with VCAA policy and procedures, where a student has completed all tasks satisfactorily but there has been a substantive breach of attendance rules, the school must assign ‘N’ for one or more outcomes and thus the Unit. Lowanna College has agreed that an ‘N’ can be given for a Unit if a student’s attendance for that Unit falls below 80%, thus preventing the student from ‘satisfactorily completing’ the Unit. Approved absences (illness, etc.) are not included in this figure.

I urge all students to continue to work hard and be the best possible person they can be – in all aspects of their life at Lowanna College.

Nicole Taylor

Senior School Leader