Principal's Update

Michelle Roberts
Michelle Roberts

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

 

Funding Announcement

On Monday 24 October, the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, visited the school, along with our local member for Mordialloc and Parliamentary Secretary for Schools, Tim Richardson. It was very exciting to hear Mr Andrews announce a $12.6 million commitment to Mordialloc College if Labor is elected in November. This funding will allow us to complete the next stage of our masterplan which will involve the planning and development of a new Arts/Technology Centre (or STEAM Centre). It may require the project to be broken down into two stages depending on the projected costs in the future. 

 

Our visitors were impressed with the students and staff they interacted with as we toured parts of the school and visited classrooms.

 

On Wednesday 2 November, the Opposition leader Matthew Guy and local Liberal candidate Phillip Pease visited the school to speak to me about our future needs in terms of facility development in line with our masterplan.  I took them on a tour of our current Art and Technology classrooms along with our Middle School Captains, Liliana Bell, Kylie Wolfe and Kyle MacDonald. They enjoyed meeting our students and teachers as we visited classrooms. It again was very exciting to hear Mr Guy and Mr Pease announce a $12.6 million commitment to Mordialloc College if the Coalition is elected in November.

We now have both political parties committing significant funds for future facility development if elected in November.

 

It’s Academic

It was wonderful to return to a live event in the EZ on Monday 24 October, for our annual Mordialloc College Academic Challenge for our feeder primary schools’ grade 5 students. The event was organised by our Middle School captains, with a several year 7 students also playing a key role at the event. This year we had six of our feeder primary schools competing in this challenge, in front of an audience of 250 students and staff from Year 7. It not only offers a unique taste of secondary school life, while making learning fun and relevant; it also provides valuable leadership and event management skills for our Year 9 Middle School leaders. 

Congratulations to Chelsea Heights PS who were the winners this year, closely followed by Aspendale Gardens PS who were second and Aspendale PS third. I will be attending a whole school assembly at Chelsea Heights PS in the next few weeks to present the trophy. All placegetters received gold, silver or bronze medals. 

 

Thanks to Director of Middle School, Brendan McFarland, who worked with our Middle School Captains and some of our Year 7 students to organise and run the event.

 

Having Positive Conversations about School with your Child

Parents in partnership with the College can have a significant impact on a child’s achievement. A positive aspect of remote learning during 2020 and 2021, and parents working from home, was the strengthening of the home school partnership during this time. Parents had the opportunity to see or hear their child’s/children’s face to face lessons delivered via Google Meet providing greater insight into what was happening in our classrooms, support offered by our teachers and education support staff and the expected work to be completed by students. This year with our return to onsite learning, I hope parents have been able to stay involved in conversations about their child’s/children’s learning. I encourage you to ask questions that will make your child have to think more deeply about the question. Questions you could ask include:

  • What have you learned today that might be useful in the immediate future and/or for a lifetime?
  • What have you completed today that makes you feel particularly proud?
  • What has been the best thing about returning to onsite learning this year (apart from seeing your friends again)? 
  • Can you think of a time today when you went out of your way to be helpful to someone?
  • What is the most demanding or challenging experience you had today?
  • Can you think of a time today when you were especially enthused? What made you feel this way?

Ask them to rate their day on a score of 1 to 10. If they say 4 or 5 out of 10, ask what do we need to do to get them to a 7 or 8 out of 10?

 

Years 9 - 12 Exams and Whole School Head Start program 

We have completed our planning for the final weeks of the 2022 academic year before launching into our whole school roll-over (2023 Headstart) on Monday 21 November. Year 12 exams began on Wednesday 26 October, Years 10 and 11 exams start on Wednesday 9 November and Year 9 students will have exams for some of their core subjects in the week of 7 - 11 November. Please note: Year 9 students have their normal classes around their scheduled exams during this week. Students in Year 10 and 11 final submission day for work was last Friday 28 October and for Years 7 - 9 it is this Friday 4 November. 

 

All students in Year 7 - 9 also need to present a Student Led Conference to celebrate their achievements for this year before moving up to the next year level in our 2023 Headstart program. The SLC day is Wednesday 16 November. Families and students should have received notification of their appointment time and an explanation of the requirements and expectations for these conferences. Please note, if parents are not able to make the online scheduled appointment, it is still compulsory for the student to complete it online with their teacher. 

 

All students from Years 7 - 11 begin our whole school rollover or 2023 Headstart program from Monday 21 November. We will be following our new timetable for 2023 and students will have the opportunity to work with their new teachers in their new year level. 

 

It is expected that all students returning to Mordialloc in 2023 attend these very important Headstart weeks. The Senior School team will also be reviewing student achievement, effort, and homework completion for our senior students to ensure students have made the correct subject selections and are on track for a successful year. In the Middle School pre-testing and formative assessment to develop instructional groups will occur and all work completed during the three-week period will count towards their assessment for 2023.

 

For Years 10, 11 and 12 (2023) students the Headstart Program will run from 21 November to 6 December. For Years 8 and 9 (2023) students it will run from 21 November to 12 December. An alternative program will be in place for our 2023 Years 8 and 9 students during the last week of school from Tuesday 13 December to Tuesday 20 December. 

 

There will be a letter from me sent to all parents in the lead up to our Headstart program outlining our expectations.

 

New Bell times from Headstart

We have revised bell times for 2023 and this will begin in Headstart. All lessons will now be 75 mins on every day of the week. On Wednesday all year levels will have assembly time and their home/group mentor lesson both on the same day. Please note the slightly later finishing time on Wednesday at 2.40 pm instead of 2.30 pm. Please see the table below. Students will receive a sticker to put in their planner.

 

MEX 2.0 City Experience

On Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October, all Year 9 students (250 students) spent two days in the city for our City Experience program as part of our MEX 2.0 program. Students participated in a range of activities over the two days and enjoyed navigating their way around the city. Thanks to Aaron Davis, our Instruction Coach for Years 9 and 10 and MEX 2.0 Coordinator, and all teachers who attended the two days to support our students. 

 

High Energy Drinks

A reminder that the College does not recommend the consumption of high energy drinks due to the high caffeine and sugar content of several popular brands in the market. Some contain the same amount of caffeine as two to three cups of coffee and as they are drunk cold, deliver caffeine faster that a cup of coffee would. This can lead to sudden peak in energy followed by a crash that can leave you feeling worse than before. The short-term effects of energy drinks include alertness, stimulation of the nervous system and an increased heart rate, while excessive consumption can aggravate symptoms like anxiety, cause insomnia, nausea, vomiting and heart palpitations. As such we seek parent support in not allowing their child to bring high energy drinks to school, and this includes when students are on an excursion.

 

COVID safe

A reminder of the Compass email I sent earlier this term and again last week, around keeping our school community safe and well. This is particularly important given the official Year 12 exam period has now started onsite. 

The Department of Health strongly recommends that students and school staff:

  • who test positive to COVID-19 stay home and isolate for 5 days and do not attend school after 5 days if they are still symptomatic
  • who are symptomatic but have not tested positive not attend school. This does not include students with pre-existing conditions such as hay fever.

Parents and carers are recommended to continue to report their child having COVID-19 to both the school and the Department of Health.

 

We ask parents and carers to continue to remain vigilant in preventing COVID-19 transmission. Any student who is unwell should continue to remain at home. This is about keeping students healthy and well in our school and reducing the spread of both COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

 

Free rapid antigen tests are available at the school for those who need them.

Parents and carers will be contacted if their child shows symptoms while at school.

Students who wish to wear a mask should continue to do so.

 

To keep our school as safe as possible, we are continuing to use air purifiers and other COVID-19 prevention measures.

 

Thank you for your continued support. 

 

Ms Michelle Roberts

Principal