VUSC News Issue One
Welcome to Term 1
Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,
Happy New Year and welcome to the new 2020 school year. I know staff are all looking forward to an exciting and successful year. I spoke to the students at their first assembly regarding making the most of their talents and doing their best throughout the year to achieve success. Last year our VCE results improved again. Our VCE Mean English Study Score improved from 29.95 in 2018 to 31.03 in 2019 (which is above the State mean) and our VCE Median Study Score improved from 26 in 2018 to 28 in 2019. I fully expect that VUSC will continue to improve and achieve better results from our students this year.
The school is certainly off to a positive and settled start, with all Year 8 to 12 students having commenced their 2020 step-up programs at the end of last year, where they attended classes and had an introduction to all subjects for this year. Other organisational matters such as the allocation of lockers were also attended to at the end of last year, which has helped to minimise disruption to students’ classes now. It is hoped that this uninterrupted start will assist students to sharpen their focus on their learning from the beginning of the year.
I would like to give a very special welcome to our new Year 7 students, who are a delightful group, and to all those students who are new to other year levels, and to their families. We hope that you enjoy your time here at Victoria University Secondary College and that it is rewarding for you both educationally and personally.
As is always the case, we look forward to working together with parents to support our students to reach the levels of achievement they are individually capable of. Again, we invite parents to work together with us this year to ensure students are meeting the basic requirements necessary for success in their studies. These include:
- Excellent attendance and punctuality
- Bringing the appropriate books and equipment each day
- Using class time effectively
- Completing homework
- Keeping to deadlines for submission of work
- Putting in maximum effort at all times.
The last point on ‘maximum effort’ is one that underlies all of the others, and it will be explicitly emphasised with the students throughout the year. Of course, the chances of this message being conveyed successfully will be much greater if it is also reinforced at home, so we will be most appreciative if parents too can emphasise the importance of consistent and persistent effort.
A checklist is attached of what parents and guardians can do to support their children with their schooling this year:
New Staff
The College is also very pleased to welcome the following staff who are joining the teaching and education support teams this year:
Prithvi Singh – Physical Education/ Strength & Conditioning
Ashleigh Koo – Mathematics Learning Specialist
Jessilla Rogers – English / Humanities
Chao Li – Chinese / EAL
Laz Panagiotidis – IT / Maths
Mary Papaioannou – Wellbeing Team Administration
Michael Smith – Music
Chalsea Chappel – Psychology / Biology
Lauren Muscat – English/Health
Tony Trieu – IT / Science / Maths
Charlie McCahey – English/Humanities
Athena Vass – Instructional Coach and Literacy Leader
We welcome them and wish them all the very best at Victoria University Secondary College.
Year 12 VCE Results
Congratulations to the VCE Class of 2019 on their excellent results; the hard work and dedication of both the students and teachers has meant we have maintained or improved upon most of our previous years’ results. The school has improved its median and mean ATAR (Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank) results significantly by a 10% increase from 2018. The school has also improved its mean study score of English from 29.95 in 2018 to 31.03 in 2019; this is a significant improvement and the Education Department has certainly recognised this. Our aim and goal for 2020 is to continue to improve not only our VCE results but our students overall learning outcomes from Years 7 to 12.
College Captains
On behalf of the whole school community, I am delighted to announce our College Captains for 2020.
Congratulations to Chantel Moncur and Poasa Telepe who have been elected Captains and to Vice Captains Viliami Faiva and Kristopher Kokkinidis.
Congratulations also to our Junior Campus Captains: Joseph Passi Jnr and Rebecca Tat, and our Junior Vice Captains: Jeffrey Junior San Miguel and Chanel Sali.
Each of these students have already shown themselves to be really deserving of these leadership roles, and we look forward to working with them and all of our student leaders.
Mobile Phone Policy
This year the Department of Education has enforced a new Mobile Phone - Student Use Policy for all government schools. The policy states that students who bring a mobile phone to school must have it switched off and stored in their locker from the first bell to the last bell of the day. Families may ring the school office if they need a message given to their child. The College Board has approved the new policy which is attached below as well as a list of frequently asked questions. Students and their parents will also be required to sign an agreement regarding computer, internet and mobile phone use at the beginning of the year.
New School Plans
2020 will see some exciting developments for our students and community. Victoria University Secondary College has been allocated $23.9M in funding by the State Government for new school facilities at our Cairnlea campus on Furlong Road and building is scheduled to commence in June this year. The College is working with Patrick Architects and the Victorian School Building Authority on this major project. The architectural plans for Stage 1 have been published on our website and can be found here.
Open House
Our Open House will be held on Tuesday 17 March at the Junior Campus. This is a great opportunity for prospective parents and students to see our classes in action and hear about the rich program of learning and extra curricular activities that we offer. Our Middle School Leader, Mr Saker will be visiting local primary schools with information for Grade 5 and 6 students. There will be morning tours at 9am and 10.10am and an evening session including interactive tours from 6pm.
Privacy reminder
Families are reminded that our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard sch
Child Safety at VUSC
Victoria University Secondary College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.
Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.
Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy.
- Commitment to Child Safety
- Child Safety Policy
- Child Safety Code of Conduct
- Child Protection Policy and Procedures