Principal Report  

Year 10 Work Experience 

For the first time since COVID, our Year 10 students will be involved in Work Experience from Monday 19 June to Friday 23 June. Work Experience is an extremely valuable program, both for students to get out into the world and experience the world of work, and also for informing pathway discussions and subject selections. Please note that, for students who are interested in undertaking a Vocational Major pathway in Year 11 in 2024, we ask that students undertake two periods of Work Experience while in Year 10. Please see the Careers team for support around this.

We encourage students to engage in the program, in fields which interest them and that they would like to experience, prior to the subject selection process starting in Term 3. As we return to Work Experience as a whole year group program, we are finding that securing a work placement has been difficult for some students. We ask members of our College community that if they have the capacity to accommodate a Work Experience student from Koonung, to please contact the College on 9890 9662 and ask to speak to a member of the Careers Team. 

Assessment and Reporting 

As we approach the halfway point of Term 2,  we will soon be into the final stages of Semester 1 and the completion of Assessment and Reporting. We ask all families to check Compass as to the progress of your child, and to be aware that many assessment items will be completed by students over the next few weeks. This also includes the Year 10 and 11 exam period running from Monday 5 June to Friday 16 June and for Year 12 students the final round of SACs for Unit 3. Koonung runs continuous reporting, so as a parent you can log in and see your child’s progress at any time.  In addition, we still publish a Semester report at the end of the term. 

Another busy term of events

It has again been a busy term of events here at Koonung. I would firstly like to thank our wonderful PFA and all of the students and their mums for our annual Mother’s Day breakfast last week. A fantastic event and well done to our students who spoke on the day about their love for their mothers. Thank you also for the Trivia with a Musical Twist fundraiser hosted by our Koonung Theatre Parents group volunteers.

Other events that have occurred this term include: 

• the start of our VCE Master Classes, as we continue to focus on supporting the achievement of our VCE students
•  Alyssa Reid of Year 12 representing Victoria at the National Schools Constitutional Convention
• another term of the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) in Literacy and Numeracy for students in the Middle Years
•  Athletics and Cross Country carnivals
• Sporting Round Robin events at all Year levels
• students representing the College at Division X County, Regional Diving and State Swimming
• a wide range of excursions to enhance our curriculum programs including the Melbourne Grand Prix, Top Arts, Top Screen and Top Designs, Year 8 Geography field work, the VCE Careers Expo
• programs to support students including Study Skills approaches for Year 11 and 12 students, guest speakers and the Raise Mentoring program. 

A big thank you to all staff for delivering these programs and events to support our students, and to our families for supporting the wide range of programs on offer here at Koonung. 

School for Student Leadership 

The School for Student Leadership (SSL) is a Victorian Department of Education (DE) initiative offering a unique residential education experience for year nine students. Schools involved in the SSL program, including Koonung Secondary College, can send up to 6 students to be involved in the term long residential program. The curriculum focuses on personal development and team learning projects sourced from students' home schools. This means that students live at the Alpine school for a full term while engaged in a program designed to enhance personal growth, aspirations and build community connections. 

This term we have 6 students attending the Alpine School Campus located at Dinner Plain in the Victorian Alps. A big thank you to Tiana North from Year 9 for sending through these photos from the past few weeks. The College is currently planning for our participation in 2024 with the Year 9 cohort, so keep an eye out on communication from the Middle School about how to be involved. For more information, visit the website-

http://www.alpineschool.vic.edu.au/

Attendance

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. Students develop good habits by going to school every day – habits that are necessary to succeed after school, whether in the workplace or in further study. High attendance rates at a school are an indication of an engaging program and the provision of a safe learning space. Koonung Secondary College students have excellent attendance, so firstly a big thank you to our families for supporting these ongoing high levels of attendance at school. 

As we approach the halfway point of Term 2, I would like to remind all of our families of the importance of attendance. We know that in the winter cold and flu season, that when sick, it is best to stay at home to recover and to not spread illness but we warn against the idea of a ‘day off’. Think twice before letting your teenager have a “day off” as they could fall behind their classmates – everyday counts. Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including VCE and the Vocational Major and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes. When students are too unwell to attend school, we still provide access to their learning through the Lesson Plans on Compass every day, for every lesson. 

Each missed day is associated with falling behind in subject topics and assessment tasks, and lead to fewer subject choices and may impact on achievement in Years 11 and 12 and post-school pathways. Even with 90% attendance, this is the equivalent of missing 1.5 years of schooling over 13 years of school. It’s never too late to improve attendance. Even in the middle years, when school can seem the most challenging for students and when attendance rates can be at their lowest, coming to school more often can make a big difference. Every day counts.

We are here to help. If you are having attendance issues with your child, speak to us about ways to be proactive and address those issues. Please contact the College on 98909662 and ask to speak to either the Middle Years or Senior School sub school teams.

Andrew McNeil

Principal

andrew.mcneil@education.vic.gov.au