Start of 2021

Our VCE cohort has started the year in outstanding fashion! The Year 11 and Year 12 students have wasted no time in making the most of being back at school for face to face classes. Never before has the Senior Centre been so full of students after school each day seeking help and feedback from teachers and dedicating their own time to improve their work.

Preliminary PAT tests and SAC results are already suggesting that these cohorts of 2021 and 2022 and trending nicely, potentially eclipsing our record breaking Class of 2020!

The numbers of students seeking to extend themselves through participation in groups such as Access Monash, Aspire Higher and ABCN programs has also been impressive.

We would encourage students to work with their parents and guardians to assist them in putting together a timetable which allows them to balance their school commitments with their social life and extracurricular activities. Balance is key to success at VCE level. To this end, it has been amazing to see so many VCE students participating in our House Cup Events, including the annual Swimming Carnival and Pi Day festivities, as well as our time honoured Year 12 Staff vs Student events! Staff are certainly looking forward to seeing more participation from our Senior School students at these events for the remainder of the year!

We wish all of our VCE students well for the rest of the year! We can’t wait to see what amazing things you achieve!

Aspire Higher

The Aspire Higher Club is for those students aspiring to achieve some of the highest marks in the state for their VCE subjects. All VCE students are encouraged to join and participate if they are interested in taking their studies to the next level! Our first event for the year was a Q & A panel with two ex-McClelland College students, including our prestigious DUX from 2020 Bela Cetkovic, who travelled all the way from Geelong to take part in the session, as well as a current member of staff Josh Hughes, both of who gave up their time to speak to our current Aspire Higher students.

The focus of the session was how to succeed at the top level, including a range of study tips, as well as strategies for how to manage mental health and achieve balance.

It was a lively session to begin the year, with current VCE students squeezing both speakers for as much information possible within the time limit in order to make the most of hearing these first hand experiences.

We thank both Bela and Mr Hughes for their time!

The next events pencilled in for Aspire Higher students include campus visits to both the University of Melbourne and Monash University. More information regarding these excursions will be released over the coming weeks!

Access Monash

Access Monash is a ground-breaking program that connects current VCE students with a mentor student from Monash University.

The purpose of the program is for VCE students to have a mentor that supports them through their two year VCE journey, with an eye to providing them a place at Monash University once they have graduated from McClelland. The Monash mentors support our students throughout the year, assisting them with study habits, mental health, as well as their VCE work. The Access Monash Launch ceremony was held on Wednesday 10th March on site at McClelland, which involved all twenty of our students and their mentors from Monash participating in a two hour session at lunchtime.

The focus of the session was to create an initial bond between mentors and mentees, followed by SMART goal setting for the remainder of the year. We thank Travis Robinson and his team from Monash University for their time. Our students are very much looking forward to participating in the program for the remainder of the year!

Year 12 English Extinction Excursion

On Friday 5th March, McClelland College hosted Complete Works Theatre Company for a performance of their Year 12 English / EAL text Extinction authored by distinguished Australian playwright Hannie Rayson. The cast of four covered all of the essentials of the play, as well as providing an insight into their characters motivations and actions throughout during the intermission.

The Q & A sessions at the end of the performance was also a highlight, with students able to interrogate the actors in terms of their own professional opinions regarding the message of the playwright and moral of the story.

This text, and a thorough understand of the themes and characters, is pivotal for both the Year 12 English and EAL students, as one third of their end of year exam is dedicated to the task.

Staff vs Student Cup

2020 saw the reinvigoration of the Staff vs Student Cup, with the students scraping through with a win by the narrowest of margins on the last day of the year in a heated game of dodgeball.

This year, the staff drew first blood in the annual water polo event at the Swimming Carnival. Deondre Samuelu was immovable in defence for the students, however it was the tireless work of Mr Hackett which eventually got the teachers over the line.

Charades was a similarly competitive event, with teachers and students alike putting their acting skills on display in order to gain points. While the staff got off to a blistering start due to the combined efforts of Ms Morgan and Ms Xing, the students were able to narrow the lead with some inspired guesswork on behalf of Ally O’Donoghue and Charlie Gibbons, as well as a brilliant performance of Spider Man by Cameron Cuthbertson. Mr Hemsley’s own attempt at Iron Man was not as successful…

The next Staff vs Student event will be European Handball, which will take place on the last day of first term.

COG VCE News:

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, Stephanie Xing, as VCE Coordinator for 2021. Congratulations year 11 and 12s on such a fantastic term, you should all be very proud of how quickly you settled into the new year and how well you’ve worked together as a VCE cohort. It’s truly a joy to see you all supporting each other to achieve your personal best.

Pi Day –

Monday 15th March saw students from all year levels compete in the recital of pi competition to win some pie and house points! Well done to all who participated. Gold house co-captain Sam Connell was the winner, reciting pi to 56 decimal places! His win was able to get gold house into first place for Pi Day with 316 points. Thank you to the maths team and student leaders for running the event, and the food tech team for the delicious pies.

House Points –

An excellent effort this term everyone, keep up the wonderful job of earning positive Compass entries as they give you a house point! Of course, house competitions like Pi Day and school events will also give you points for participation. Here are the current points for each house:

Green: 1719

Blue: 1659

Gold: 1488

Red: 1273

Well done Green house for coming out on top! Ranks are constantly changing though, keep working hard to earn those points for your house!

Dates to Remember

April

May