Senior School Report
The Start to the 2020 Academic Year
The Senior School co-ordination team welcomes back the Year 10, 11 and 12 students for a positive and successful 2020. The Year 11 and 12 students attended an assembly on their first day of school and met me (Mr Stirling) as their new Head of Senior School. The main message of my first speech to the students was that they need to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunities available at Scoresby Secondary College. Since joining the college, I have been overwhelmed by the commitment and motivation of the leadership and teaching staff at the college to ensure the welfare of students and the opportunity for students to succeed as learners. Our Year 10 students attended a whole school assembly at the start of their first day and were welcomed by Mrs Major, Mr Knight, the College Captains (Zac Tarquinio and Shannen Toogood) and the College Vice-Captains (Alex Barnabas and Luke Seedsman).
The Senior School co-ordination team is committed to provide the highest level of service and support to students and parents / guardians. The 2020 Senior School team is:
Mr Tony Stirling- Head of Senior School
Mr Tom Santos- Year 10 Co-ordinator
Ms Sylvia Wood- Year 11 Co-ordinator
Ms Vicki Manioudakis- Year 12 Co-ordinator
Mr. Sam Eddy -Senior School Support
Parents / guardians are welcome to contact the Senior School team with any questions or concerns throughout the year.
Secondary school students who regularly complete their homework have higher achievement than those who do not (Ann, Poortvliet, Axford & Lloyd, 2018). Parents / guardians have a crucial role in helping their child manage homework. This does not necessarily mean helping their child do the homework. It is important for parents/guardians to set routines and provide encouragement for homework completion. The college’s suggested minimum time for homework is 10 hours per week for Year 10 students, 15 hours per week for Year 11 students and 20 hours per week for Year 12 students.
Year 12 Camp
The Year 12 Residential was conducted on Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 February in the stunning surroundings of Ormond College at The University of Melbourne. The Year 12 Class of 2020 participated in a number of workshops and experiences to prepare them for the challenging year ahead.
On the first day, the VCE students started with an English workshop conducted by Ms Christoforou and an expert guest speaker, whilst the Year 12 VCAL students made a start exploring their study theme for the year ‘Community’. After lunch at Ormond College, the Year 12 students completed some engaging and fun teamwork activities ran by Mr Eddy and the students also participated in a thought-provoking careers and tertiary course workshop conducted by Ms Haines. The Class of 2020 was then joined by three of our past high performing students from 2019- Erwin Diesta, Skye Inwood and Chris Swenson. The advice from these past students was invaluable and demonstrated to the Class of 2020 that they too can achieve their aims with the right work ethic and positive ‘can do’ attitude.
The students were then joined by Mrs Major and Mr Knight for dinner in the grand dining room at Ormond College. After dinner, Mrs Major gave a presentation to the group using her wealth of experience and knowledge to help the students identify the attitudes and behaviours to maximise their VCE outcomes and to build a positive whole year level culture. To end the day’s activities, the College Captain team of Zac Tarquinio, Shannen Toogood and Alex Barnabas conducted a trivia night. The students formed teams of 4 and a staff team was formed by Mr Eddy, Ms Haines, Ms Manioudakis and Mr Stirling. The staff team came second after the College Captains announced a controversial scoring system that snatched victory from the celebrating teacher team.
On the second day, the Year 12 VCE students completed a tour of the University of Melbourne and workshops on VCE scoring and the ATAR calculation presented by an expert guest speaker and Ms Manioudakis. The Year 12 VCAL students were joined by the Year 11 VCAL students and they completed activities in the city centre for their 2020 VCAL Work Related Skills and VCAL Literacy courses.
Feedback from the Year 12 students has been extremely positive and the Senior School team congratulate the Class of 2020 for their engagement and enthusiasm in the activities conducted during the two days. Thank you to Ms Manioudakis who organised the Residential as her efforts have now ensured that the Year 12 students are much better prepared for the challenging year ahead. Credit also to the Year 11 VCAL students who joined the program on the second day. It was fantastic to see the VCAL group bond as a team as they completed the day’s activities.
Mr Tony Stirling
Head of Senior School