Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Leadership Induction Whole School Assembly

On Tuesday, in our whole school assembly, we formally recognised our students who have been successful in achieving a leadership position for this year on  the Mordialloc College Student Council. Mr Tim Richardson, MP, State Member for Mordialloc, attended to make a speech and join with me to present the leadership badges and certificates. Thanks to Mr Mark Dreyfus MP, Federal member for Isaacs for providing the certificates, however, he was not able to attend due to parliament commitments in Canberra. Mr Simon Cummins, Acting Assistant Principal and Director of Student Engagement, organised and led the assembly, along with our School Captains. 

Our leadership structure is set up to provide opportunities for authentic student voice and agency across six student led sub-committees including: Curriculum, Wellbeing and Community, Facilities and Environment, The Arts, Sport, Publicity and Fundraising. This structure includes our traditional School Captains and Middle School Captains. We also have Year 12 captains for each sub-committee and then House Captains at each year level selecting the sub-committee they would like to join. I congratulate all students who were prepared to nominate and go through the selection process during Term 4 last year, with Year 7s having this opportunity during the first half of this term.

The College community acknowledges the crucial role that leadership at every level throughout the school plays in continuing to provide a forum for student voice and agency and offering opportunities for student led initiatives; and in inspiring pride in the College and in reinforcing the importance of setting high expectations in everything we do.

Mordialloc College Student Council Student 

College Captains: Amelia Davidson and Jeremy Thai-Chan

College Vice Captains: Reema Ababneh and Jordan Shenouda

Middle School Captains: Reny Zhang and Ethan Simons

Middle School Vice Captains: Alex Wragg, Bonnie Blinco, and Caleb Mulcahy

Sub- Committees

Curriculum: 

Year 12 leaders: Jessica House and Reema Ababneh

Year 7-12 house Leaders

• William Fleming
• Keika Tanya
• Kyle McDonald
• Scarlett Clayton
• Emma Dougall
• Peiqiao (Charles) He

Facilities and Environment

Year 12 leaders: Amelia Davidson and Jeremy Thai-Chan

Year 7-12 house Leaders

• Leilani Tovia
• Bonnie Blinco
• Eamon Tarr
• Jensen Srisuwan
• Lucy Beckett

Promotion and Fundraising

Year 12 leaders: Ava Bridger and Jordan Shenouda

Year 7-12 house Leaders

• Zac Sedunary
• Brendan Sok
• Ethan Simons
• Reny Zhang
• Charles Horejsi
• Antonio Marques Vaz Serra
• Tigga Johnstone
• Ethan Ly
• Caitlin Yeo
• Sienna Hornek

The Arts

Year 12 Leaders: Performing Arts: Katherine Papadopoulos and Matilda Harwood; Visual Arts: Eva Coulton

Year 7-12 House Leaders

• Eden Lasbury
• Kylie Wolfe
• Charlotte Zaph
• Liliana Bell
• Tahlia Northam

Wellbeing and Community

Year 12 leader: Tenillia Tong and Cassandra Lawson

Year 7-12 House Leaders

• Linh Nguyen
• Anoushka Jitesh
• Quin Collins
• Gabrielle Colquhuon
• Caleb Mulcahy
• Jasmine Shovelar

Sports

Year 12 leaders: Nina Davis and Lewis Hatch

Year 7-12 House Leaders

• Isabelle Vicendese
• Charles Riant
• Jai Kumar Gothwal
• Liv Patterson
• Elisabetta Sanseverino
• Felix Collins
• George Horejsi
• Bridget Kennedy
• Luna Kovac
• Madeline Patterson
• Alexis Willwrath
• Ally Worner

Year 12 House Captains

Kalura

• Ulyana Biaroza, Amber Page, Isikeli Uluikavoro, Henry Lee

Yerlonga

• Isabella Sullivan, Tia Roberts, Thomas Wakelin, Oceana Palladino

Iwala

• Dylan O’Neill, Michael Kelly 

Bunurong

• Liam Broad, Gabrielle Colquhoun

Outside Courts

On Monday our outside courts were finally open for student use and there was much excitement from our students. At recess and lunchtime, it proved to be the most popular spot in the school. To meet the demand from students, we are allocating the end court closest to the Learning Centre to Years 7 and 8, the middle court to Years 9 and 10 and the end court to Years 11 and 12. 

Congratulations to Julia Phillips

Congratulations to one of our English teachers, Julia Phillips, who competed in the Victorian State Surf Lifesaving Championships on the weekend and came first in the sprint event and third in the flags event. Julia will be representing Victoria at the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships in late March. 

Student Planner

A reminder to parents/carers and students about the use of our student study planner as a valuable organisational tool to support learning and is an important means of communication between school and home. Students should take their planner to every class and keep it graffiti free and tidy. Students should record home study, important dates e.g., upcoming excursions and due dates for class work. Teachers will use the planner to inform parents about matters of importance within their specific class and/or email parents. I ask that parents/carers please check their child’s planner on a regular basis. Note: senior students may be using their device to record homework and upcoming SACs instead of the planner.

Homework Policy

The College believes that to promote student engagement with their learning, some homework should be set and done regularly under the coordination of the teacher. The work completed at home by a student is a vital and necessary extension of the class lessons to enable them to consolidate and reinforce the work covered during the day.  This is best done some hours after the lesson and when the student is alone.  Students’ work at home is divided into two categories:

HOME STUDY

students should independently follow-up on class work to ensure that work is understood, and relevant facts are committed to memory as a foundation for future learning, and

HOMEWORK

which is a task set by the teacher or the completion of work not finished in class

Please find attached here our Homework Policy for further information about our expectations for each year level, holiday homework and our shared expectations and responsibilities as a college including teachers, students, and parents/carers. 

See policy here:

School Production

Thanks to Mara Sears for her organisation of this year’s production, “Bully”, supported by former students Eliza D’Alberto and Bronte Taylor and our current Performing Arts captains, Matilda Hardwood and Katherine Papadopoulos. Interested students have been working through the audition process and all parents/carers of students selected to be part of the cast or crew will receive a letter with further information about rehearsal times and expectations around attendance, along with the dates of the performance nights to be held in the PAC mid-August during Term 3. 

Year 7 Information afternoon

On Tuesday we held the Year 7 information afternoon from 3.30 - 4.30 pm in the new Learning Centre.  The event was well attended and provided an opportunity for parents to be introduced to the key features of the Year 7 program (structure of a typical day, communication with home group teachers and leadership team, home study, Compass, Google classroom and docs, benchmark tasks and assessment). Thanks to Jo Hannan and Daniel Mayadas, our Year 7 Coordinators, Simon Cummins, Assistant Principal for Middle School, and Director of Middle School, Brendan McFarland, for organising this afternoon. In addition, a number of our core Year 7 teachers and home group teachers were available to introduce themselves to parents. A copy of the presentation will be made available to all families as we understand, given the timing, not all parents/carers were able to attend. 

Michelle Roberts

Principal