Sydenham Campus Principal Message 

 Sydenham Campus-Principal’s Report August, 2021. 

Campus Assembly

Welcome back to all our students, staff and families. Term 2 ended in a lovely celebration of student achievement and engagement with a Campus Assembly on the last Thursday of term. Our Campus Captains Maddie and Makayla , ably and confidently led the assembly. Ms Griffiths congratulated our student leaders as they were officially presented to their peers. Ms Griffiths also reminded students of the importance of attending every day and encouraged them to be excited about the Student Led Presentations coming up this term. 

Angus  spoke about the Year 7 camp that had been cut short due to lockdown. He described the fun that was had despite the disappointment of having to return to campus early. Savahna and Ihi detailed the wonderful opportunity that Year 8 students had to enjoy a 3 day camp in lieu of their Year 7 camp in 2020. All three students are to be congratulated for delivering their speeches so confidently. 

Many students were recognised for their excellent behaviour throughout the term and the conferring of RRR awards was a real highlight for each of the Teams. Many thanks to Mr White (E team), Ms Causer (H team), Mr Hasip & Ms Talevski (B team) and Ms Galea & Ms Ghazale (K team) for their continued leadership, support and care of the students on our campus. 

There were two wonderful musical performances during the assembly. Thank you to Mr Le, Ms Conlan and Mr Costa for preparing the students and to the students for their bravery in performing to such a large audience. 

We would like to congratulate all the students who presented and the students in the audience who showed respect for their peers. Assemblies are wonderful opportunities to celebrate our campus, however, they do not happen magically. Thank you to Mr Atherton and Ms Martin for organising the event and supporting and encouraging all of the student leaders. 

Online Rights and Responsibilities

Term 3 started with a flurry of activity in the first week- Year 9 students attended an on campus presentation by the Proactive Policing Unit. Often, students can be faced with tricky online situations; the presentation helped students understand their rights and responsibilities whilst they are online. Year 8 students will be participating in a similar event this term. 

RMIT

A group of Year 10 students attended RMIT also in week 1. The focus of the excursion was to experience some of the excellent courses available in Art and Design at the City Campus of RMIT. Thank you to Ms Jenny Zahra, Campus Pathways, for continuing to source interesting and engaging events for our students. 

Student Led Presentations

This term we are focussing on Student Led Presentations (SLPs). Increased student participation in SLPs has been a campus goal this year and students have responded positively to their part in achieving this goal. Students and staff will continue to dedicate time throughout the next few weeks to get the SLPs ready for presentation days. Each student will have at least two staff members, their Home Group teacher and a ‘buddy’, as the in school presentation audience. Parents and families are invited to attend on Thursday September 2nd or Friday September 3rd to view these presentations. Bookings can be made  by contacting Home Group teachers. Thank you to Ms Jones and Ms Van Beers for their SLP leadership on campus. 

GALA

Lockdown 5.0 did put a hold on some more events that we had planned for the beginning of this term. Namely, the College GALA that had an opening night scheduled for Thursday July 29th. Many students, staff and families had already purchased tickets and these will be honoured for the rescheduled performances. The importance of this College event cannot be overstated. Ms Conlan and the Performing Arts Team have worked so hard to bring this event together and our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to all of the staff and students involved. The show will go on because ‘You can’t stop the music!’ Details of new dates will be communicated once they are confirmed. 

eLearning

We would also like to thank Ms Chung our Campus eLearning Leader for her enthusiasm and sharing of engaging resources. Ms Chung prepared a set of instructions for staff to use Blooket. 

Blooket is an interactive program for teachers to use for review of content and short quizzes. Please ask your children about it- they should know as it has taken off in many classes on our campus. 

Lockdown

We are proud of the way our staff adapted to the recent Lockdown. Our Office Staff were still able to respond to parent/carer enquires in a timely manner, our integration aides continued to assist students during classes (be it online) and Marty ‘rescued’ students with internet password issues and by providing electronic devices as needed. Our teaching staff went ‘above and beyond’ in supporting each other and our students. The latter included many phone calls home and working closely with our wellbeing team to identify and assist students and families with any wellbeing needs. They were very much aware of the need for them, our students and their parents/carers to stay connected. We look forward to continuing to have a Champion year on the Sydenham Campus.

Ms Mary Chiodo and Mr Michael Gruis

Campus Principals