Delahey Campus Principal Message
May, Term 2.
To all members of the Delahey community…Welcome back to (a much chillier) Term 2.
While it’s a slightly shorter term, it’s probably the most critical as it is the end of the first semester, the first unit in Year 11 and first unit of Year 12, mid-year examinations, providing opportunities for meeting outcomes, GAT etc.
Much of what was mentioned above has its roots in how our students acted on the feedback they received from the Family Student Teacher Interviews which took place at the end of Term 1. Teacher feedback as we know is so important, but equally as important is how students take control of their learning by using that feedback.
Year 12 Vocational Major students were given the opportunity to present to their teachers as part of the VM Mini Pathways Presentation back in week 2. This is more of a rehearsal for what they do officially as a Personal Development Strand (PDS) outcome later in the year. Presentations focus on future career research, what their pathway will look like after school, how their VET and community project will help them gain employment, challenges and successes. Some very nervous students and some confident ones; some who have done an amazing job and some who will benefit from the practise.
Speaking of our Vocational Major students, their PDS projects are progressing well. A summary of what they are doing include:
Year 11
• Improving a dimension of health within an at-risk community group
• Fundraisers for Fairshare, Share the Dignity, creating Blessing Bags and working in Primary schools
• Working with the team from CHASE undertaking a unit on accessing Medicare, Human Services and Drug awareness, including vaping
Year 12
• Continuing the partnership with Western Health, including furniture building and artwork
• Raising funds to support new-born babies with birthing complications
• Christmas in July with ARCARE
• Partnering with Beyond Disability, creating artwork, mosaic designs, bird feeder and sensory tactile board for clients
• Maintenance Group who are learning to fix small things around the school while gaining practice at using tools
• Building a bench for the Dialysis unit at Sunshine hospital.
Also, on Monday May 15, the Delahey campus will run a casual-clothes fundraiser to purchase necessities for a local women’s shelter. The event is a cross collaboration involving our student leaders and a Year 11 VM PDS project group.
It’s also the time of the year where we begin to prepare our Year 10s for life at Delahey. On Wednesday May 10, the Delahey Student Management Team along with our Pathways Team and Year 12 college captains split in half and gave a short, informal presentation to both Junior campuses as part of our Year 10 Delahey Experience Program. The program aims to make the transition from the Junior campus to the senior campus seamless and comfortable, while also making it as thought- provoking as possible. Later in the term, as we ramp up the Year 10 into 11 course counselling process, Year 10s from both Junior campuses will attend Delahey for a half-day continuation of this transition experience.
Speaking of our Year 10 into Year 11 course counselling process, it all begins on May 23 with our Pathways Information Evening on May 23. This will be similar in structure as the one last year. It will be hosted at the Delahey campus with Year 10 students and families in attendance, although we have also asked Year 9 students who are intending to undertake a VCE subject in Year 10 to attend.
The presentation (along with question/answer time) will be facilitated by members of the Pathways Strategic Planning Team as well as campus principals in attendance. Our Pathways staff will also be providing Year 10 students with a resource pack so that as they begin the path toward making some big decisions for 2024, they are as informed as they can be.
From a campus organisational point of view, and mentioned briefly at the beginning, this term is filled with quite a few routines, events and timelines that are usually out of our control. Some include:
• Year 11 exams between June 5 and June 9
• Year 12 practice exams between June 13 and June 16
• Year 11 Course Re-Counselling and finalisation of Unit 2 programs
• Year 11 Activities and Pathways preparation for Year 12 day on June 14
• General Achievement Test (GAT) on June 15. Please note that Year 11 classes are cancelled on that day as the GAT is undertaken in two parts over the day by all Year 12s and all Year 11s studying a Year 12 subject
• Redemption classes and promotion panels to give our students who have fallen behind every opportunity to meet VCE and VM outcomes before final results are submitted by teachers
Finally…the library and Study Centre have finally been fitted out with the new furniture which had been allocated as part of our capital works program which began back in late 2018. From all accounts, the team here at Delahey who worked with Business Interiors did an excellent job of coming up with furniture that was functional, which was aesthetically pleasing and which most importantly, changed the look of the two spaces, all with a fairly strict financial constraint. Let’s hope that our students appreciate what they have and look after it for many years to come.
As an aside, Business Interiors will be sending a photographer once the library corrals arrive to take photos for their promotion. We will be able to see our transformed library and Study Centre on their website photo gallery. We should all be incredibly proud.
Enjoy the remainder of the term.
Stay happy, healthy and safe.
Mr Renato Carinci and Mr Dan Sullivan
Campus Principals