Middle School Report  

We are fast approaching the end of the year and it is a busy time for all. Last week we held the Beacon Pledge for all Year 10 students and it was a wonderful celebration. Our four Beacon ambassadors, Jessica Vo, Linda Nguyen 10D, Ricki Tran and Minh Truong did a sterling job as our hosts for the day and in preparations behind the scenes.

We were pleased to welcome our business partners, Sian Hulland from Smith Family, Lou Gionfriddo from Tobin Brothers & Anita Weber from Beacon Foundation and also welcome back Demi Tran and 2014 Dux Tina Cheng. 

The ex-students spoke about their journeys so far and how to get the most out of school. 

We were also very lucky to hear from current Year 12 student William Zahra who spoke at the pledge only 2hrs after his 3 hour English exam. William received 4 academic awards at the graduation ceremony this year and was able to offer the Year 10 students very pertinent advice. He set himself S.M.A.R.T goals for the year and explained how the students could do the same. There were many prizes on the day and the students made a pledge to work towards a positive future. Congratulations to our Beacon ambassadors who have shown great examples of leadership and commitment to the school throughout the year. Also thank you to Brendan McFarland for his enthusiastic coordination of the program this year and to Nermina Fetahovic for ensuring that things were organised behind the scenes.

A group of Year 10 students participated in an interview skills workshop at Optus last month. This was organised through the ABCN program. It was a motivating, enjoyable and helpful program. I have since heard that some students have gone for job interviews and felt that the hands on experience they had from the workshop was very valuable.

Through her work with the Whitten project, Hanna Nguyen of 10A, organised along with students from other schools a racism forum. Manuela Soma, Linda Nguyen 10A and Bill Duong joined her at the Whitten oval in meaningful discussions about ways young people can address racism and change the views of others in everyday situations. Apart from the deep learning which took place we also enjoyed a tour of the facilities.

We are approaching exams for Year 10 and the Year 9 students will have end of semester tests in all their core subjects. Year 10 students are required to line up outside the exam 15 minutes prior to the exam and must be in full school uniform. Students must stay in the exam for the entire time so that they give themselves the best chance of doing well. The behaviour of the students in the Semester One exams was exemplary and we see no reason why it will be any different this time. If a student misses an exam a medical certificate will need to be provided for the exam to be rescheduled. If a Year 9 student misses a final test a medical certificate will also need to be provided and the student may need to sit the test at the end of the school day.

After the exams the year 10 students will be involved in a compulsory orientation program. All students will be given holiday homework and it is essential that they are familiar with the subject area and complete the homework so that they can make a positive start to the year.

Apart from all the work we have some exciting events to look forward to: the awards assemblies, Year 9 dance extravaganza and the Year 10 formal.