Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3! For many of our students, this term sees the start of a new semester of subjects. This is particularly the case for our students in Years 7 to 10 who all have new subjects to get settled into. For our Year 12 students, this is the last full term of learning before they commence the exciting time of graduation, moving into further study, undertaking exams and lots of other life stage events.

I wish to provide a warm welcome to our new staff member joining the team from Term 3:

Serge Petrescu - Maths/Science Teacher

To further support the college, I congratulate the following staff who have moved into leadership roles in Term 3:

Dana Brown – Year 9 Team Leader
Ryan Outhred – Year 9 Team Leader

I also wish a warm welcome to our many new students who have enrolled with us and commenced in Term 3.

Whole School Assembly

We commenced this term with a full school assembly hosted by our College Captains on Monday in Week 2. This was to allow all classes to have the first week back to get re-settled and established routines and expectations.

The focus of this assembly was on community and how all students and staff have a right and a responsibility to be positive and active members of our Lyndhurst Secondary College community.

We also recognised for the first time ever, our Semester 1 Lyndhurst Legacy Champions. These were the five students that were awarded the most Lyndhurst Legacy points for each of the College Values for Semester 1. This is just one part of our School-Wide Positive Behaviours System (SWPBS) and one that created great enthusiasm and excitement for our students. I look forward to being able to present the year-long Lyndhurst Legacy Champions at our Awards Evening in December, as well as see many more students receive their certificates and badges in assemblies throughout the year.

Course Counselling and 2024 Subject Selection

As part of our curriculum revamp, students have even more options and opportunities when choosing their subjects and programs. This aligns really closely to our College Vision to “empower students for learning and life” as the process we have developed and implemented involves students having more time and greater responsibility in the planning and preparation for their Course Counselling appointments.

New initiatives for this year included our Year 8 students having the opportunity to speak with Learning Area Leaders and subject teachers to learn more and ask questions about Year 9 subjects. This was particularly well received, with students eagerly asking great questions and taking great care in taking notes to guide their planning.

We have run special Course Counselling days for current Year 8 to 11 students this term and we have been pleased to see so many parents and carers attend these. By attending and being an active part of the process, parents and carers are real partners in their child’s learning and support them in their pathway decisions. I thank the Course Counselling team and Mentor subject teachers for their work in supporting students to plan for the day, as well as guide students in their pathway decisions.

Attendance

As a college, we have a strong focus on attendance, with aims to both increase the percentage attendance across the school, as well as have attendance goals for each year level and in some instances, individual students with attendance concerns. The simple message we have for our community regarding attendance is as follows:

It is not OK to be away!

Australian and international research has shown that the more days a student has off from school, the lower their chances of academic achievement. Poor attendance can also lead to:

increased likelihood of dropping out of school earlier
social isolation from the school community and peers
poorer mental health and social functioning
increased likelihood of involvement in criminal activity
increased likelihood of requiring social assistance

We know as a college that at times, absence is unavoidable due to illness or other factors. If you child is absent, please ensure you login to Compass and provide an explanation for this absence. Alternatively, please contact our Main Office on 5996 0144 and speak with our Attendance Officer, Ms Jane Arnott, who can help you with this.

Students with attendance concerns have a great opportunity with the start of a new semester to set some SMART goals around their attendance to boost it, and our staff are here to help! If you want to discuss your child’s attendance and possible strategies/supports to boost this, please contact your child’s Home Group or Mentor teacher, or speak with the relevant year level Team Leader.

College Mobile Phone and Headphone Policy

I would like to take this opportunity to put a spotlight on one of our pre-conditions for learning at Lyndhurst Secondary College – our Mobile Phone and Electronic Devices policy available from our website. This policy outlines the college’s approach to implementing the Ministerial policy formally issued by the Minister for Education for all Victorian Government schools.

Key information from this policy states the following:

Mobile phones and headphones must not be used whilst on school grounds during the school day.
Students are to store their mobile phones and headphones in their lockers, not in their pockets.
Students in possession of, or using their mobile phones or headphones, will have them confiscated and locked securely in the administration office until the end of the day when they can be collected.
Students are not permitted to access their devices before/after school or during recess and lunch.
The use of headphones with laptops, is not permitted in class or between class, unless under the instruction of a teacher when being used for educational purposes.

When speaking with students about reasons why they feel the need to access or use their mobile phones, a common response is that it is so their parents/carers can call or message them. In order to support the implementation of this policy, parents and carers are asked not to contact their students on their mobile phones during the school day, as well as support the college’s policy by reiterating the above expectations to their child regularly.

If there is an emergency and your child needs to be contacted during the school day, please ring the Main Office on 5996 0144 to contact a staff member who can speak with your child.

Ms Eloise Haynes

Principal

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