Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Anzac Day Service

On Monday 24 April, the College held a whole school assembly to recognise Anzac Day and to commemorate the 108th year of the landing at Gallipoli. The service was organised and led by our School Captains and Middle School Captains, including the schedule of service and all readings. We also had a guest speaker, Chief Petty Officer, Anne Pahl, Vice President of the Longbeach RSL. They all did a wonderful job, and we thank them for their thorough planning and excellent leadership of this important event. Congratulations to Amelia Davidson, Jeremy Thai-Chan, Jordan Shenouda, Bonnie Blinco, and Ethan Simons. In addition, well done to Aysia Thorne (Year 11) who performed the Last Post in front of the whole assembly.

Longbeach RSL Anzac Service

Congratulations to our School Captains, Amelia Davidson and Jeremy Thai-Chan, who were invited to be the guest speakers at the Longbeach RSL main Anzac Service on Tuesday 25 April at 9.30 am at the Chelsea Town Hall. They were asked to speak about what Anzac Day means to them and they did a wonderful job representing the College at this significant community event to recognise Anzac Day. Thanks to Simon Cummins, Acting Assistant Principal and Bonnie Blinco, one of our Middle School captains, who also attended. It was lovely to see Jade Goodwin, former student, and Chloe Payne in Year 10 representing Chelsea Lifesaving Club and Kadin Astfalck representing Chelsea Heights Scouts group.

Shrine Young Ambassador Leadership Program

As part of Cooper Hewitt’s (Year 10) role as a Young Ambassador this year, Cooper laid a Wreath on behalf of the students of Victoria at the Legacy ANZAC ceremony on April 5. See photos below from that day.

Yesterday, Cooper attended his first Dawn Service at The Shrine and then spent three hours working with a volunteer, handing out poppies and talking with people going through the displays. He also spent a day during the holidays helping out with the Shrine's school holiday program. We congratulate Cooper again for being selected for this leadership program and his contributions to the community to date.

Richard Williams Scholarship

At the end of our assembly on Monday, we also took the opportunity to present our successful recipients of this scholarship, which is in its third year. Richard Williams was an unsung, local hero. He worked tirelessly for others, and always put other people before himself. After his passing in 2020, some of his close friends, who he had been friends with since they were students together at Mordialloc College, got together to create this Scholarship Fund in his memory. Applications closed in March, and we had 31 applications from across the school community. The Scholarship Fund committee in consultation with me selected seven students this year to be awarded this scholarship to support student’s studies and/or pursuing a particular interest. Members of Richard’s family were in attendance, including Lindy Langshaw (Richard’s partner), Steve Strange the Chair of the Scholarship Fund board, and Ivor Donohue from the Mordialloc College Alumni Association. Steve spoke at the assembly about the scholarship fund and both Steve and Lindy presented our seven recipients with a framed certificate and scholarship fund letter.

Congratulations to Sarah O’Neill (Year 7), Aaron Yan (Year 8), Leon Yan (Year 8), Zoe McPherson (Year 8), Collin Joo (Year 8), Celestine Debargue-Tamai (Year 10) and Madison Jordan (Year 12).

RESPECT focus

This term we are having a whole school focus on one of our CORE values, RESPECT. I spoke to all students about the importance of living this core value in our whole school assembly on Monday. This will be followed up with a different focus in each year level assembly this term and in mentor/home group lessons. As a rapidly growing school that has doubled in size from when I first started here as Principal, it is just so important that this value underpins our core focus on positive relationships across the College and our strong sense of community.

We have three key non-negotiables over the remainder of the year, to promote positive behaviours from all students in the provision of a safe school environment and positive culture that supports all students and staff to be the best that they can be, and to feel safe and happy:

We are respectful to all members of the school community - this means no put downs, swearing or derogatory comments towards another person
We follow instructions the first time they are given, without argument
We behave in a safe and appropriate manner

I asked everyone to reflect on how their actions and words will demonstrate what RESPECT means to them and take on board some possible areas where they can personally improve to ensure we continue to build a positive culture focused on positive relationships within our school and a harmonious school community that everyone is proud to be a part of. We are looking forward to a positive Term Two together.

New Wellbeing Resource for Parents

We have subscribed to SchoolTV a wellbeing website designed by well known psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, to assist parents with modern day parenting. This award-winning resource can assist in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle. SchoolTV topics are conveniently arranged into a number of series. Topics feature interviews with leading youth wellbeing experts and researchers from around the world offering hours of relevant and practical information. Additionally, each topic includes a compilation of related resources from key organisations providing a comprehensive stream of content. Resources include informative fact sheets, articles, apps, books, podcasts, websites, and other videos - all related to a single topic, in one place for easy access!

Some of the topics include cybersafety, managing screen time, online gaming, mental health, youth anxiety, healthy bodies, exam jitters, surviving the final year etc.

To access the vast range of resources on here, click onto our website:

https://www.mcsc.vic.edu.au/

Along the top bar, click on parents and scroll down to the bottom to click on schooltv: https://mcsc.vic.schooltv.me/

Scholarship Laptop Donation

We would like to thank Andrew Simmons, Chief Executive Officer with the Southeast Local Learning and Employment Network (SLLEN) and part of the This Is “IT” charity organisation for delivering 19 laptops this morning donated by the City of Kingston to our school to provide to our financially vulnerable students as identified by my wellbeing team as needing this support. This is such an important learning tool and a valuable resource that will make a significance difference to these students.

In 2020, the This is ‘IT’ initiative was born, in an attempt to equalise access to education across the South-East region of Melbourne. Now in 2023, with the assistance of very generous donors, the initiative has expanded into the Bayside and Peninsula regions. The initiative aimed to offer scholarships to local students, in the form of laptops.

In this day and age, laptops are a required learning tool for all students. Not having access to one severely impacts a student’s learning and the subsequent opportunities they will have to access further education, training and employment.

Students from Mordialloc College have been identified among more than 1,000 students across the region, as recipients of a laptop, as a scholarship in 2023. These scholarships are reflective of the dedication to education these students are demonstrating, and the belief their school has in their ability to succeed at school.

The laptops provided to students from Mordialloc College were donated by the City of Kingston.

This is ‘IT’ has been established by local business people wanting to have a positive impact on the education of young people. Founders of this initiative are:

Todd Hartley - Hilton Manufacturing
Simon Whiteley - Corex Plastics Australia
Tyrone Landsman - Future Recycling
Sandra George – South-East Business Networks (City of Greater Dandenong)
Andrew Simmons – South-East LLEN

If you would like to know more about this initiative, or have laptops sitting on shelves in your office, that you would like to donate to a worthy cause, please contact Andrew Simmons, CEO at South-East LLEN and co-founder at This Is IT, via email or phone. asimmons@sellen.org.au or 0488 003 036.

Open Events

This Thursday we are holding our SEAL information night for prospective parents and students in the PAC. Thanks to Amelia Hargreaves for her presentations on the night supported by the Principal Class team. Congratulations to our student speakers for SEAL on the night: Zander Howell (Year 9), Lucy Beckett (Year 9) and Charlotte Zaph (Year 11).

We look forward to meeting prospective students and their parents at our Open Night next Thursday, 4 May. The whole school will be open for our annual Open night. Please note, this will be an early dismissal day to allow time for staff to set up displays etc. Students will be dismissed at 2.30 pm on this day. They will still have their normal four periods of classes this day, they will just be shortened. The formal start to Open Night will be at 6.30 pm in the Gym with our School Captains Amelia Davidson and Jeremy Thai-Chan hosting this occasion. I will address the audience followed by our School Council president, Mr Ian Fox. Then two of our Year 7 students will provide an overview of our Year 7 program and an insight into their experience of starting Secondary School. Attendees will then be taken on a guided tour of the school to see the various learning areas in operation, to meet teaching staff and current students. Thanks to the many students who have volunteered their time to attend the night to act as guides.

We also run tours of the school during the day for prospective students and their parents to see the College at work. People can book in for the weekly tour that I run on Fridays at 9.30am.

School Zones

Since 2019, all schools have been provided with a zone. Late in Term 1, the Department of Education and Training (DET) issued new guidelines for accepting any out of zone enrolments. As a school that has reached its enrolment capacity, we are now limited to no more than two hundred students in Year 7. The revised DET priority order for accepting any out of zone enrolments is now: students with a sibling at the same permanent address who is attending the school at the same time; and all other students in order of closeness of their home to the school (assuming we have room after taking the in zone applications and sibling applications). Students from outside the school’s zone can no longer be prioritised for enrolment based on curriculum grounds.

To view our zone, click on this link: https://www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au/

Congratulations to Leroy Rockman

Congratulations to Leroy Rockman, one of our Year 10 students, who was selected to play in the Victorian State Hockey team, competing at the Hockey Australia Under 15 Championships held in Darwin from 15-21 April. After an exciting tournament (played in a mix of Darwin’s wet and dry season with daily temperatures around 32 degrees) the Victorian team came second - silver medallists after losing to Queensland in the gold medal match. A wonderful achievement for Leroy and the Under 15 Victorian team.

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

On Wednesday 5 April, our parent/teacher/student interviews were held, and we had a very positive attendance rate online. We hope that parents and students found these to be valuable in terms of the feedback received. If you were not able to attend the interviews and wish to discuss your child’s progress with a particular teacher or teachers, please contact them via email to organise a time to discuss on the phone. If you have any feedback regarding the interviews set up and process please email the main organiser, one of my Assistant Principals, Tracey Bastin via the school’s email address, mordialloc.co@education.vic.gov.au

Year 10 Work Experience

After three years of not being able to run a full Work Experience program for our Year 10 students, we are excited to have this opportunity again featuring on the College calendar of events, linked to our student’s studies in “My Future My Pathway”. Next week the majority of our Year 10 cohort of 240 students are out on work experience. Students have organised placements in a wide variety of workplaces and locations across Melbourne, including in Real Estate, Hospitality, Science (CSIRO), Accountant and Business firms, Graphic Design, Education, Information Technology, Automotive, Health and Fitness, Hospitality, Building and Construction. A big thank you must go to our Pathways Coordinator, Emma White, Year 9 and 10 Instructional Coach, Kate Denman, and Education Support staff assistant, Kim Cowain-Menzies, for all of their hard work in supporting our students to find suitable work placements for next week; and to all of the local businesses not only in our community but extending well beyond, in being prepared to accept a student for the week into their place of work. Thanks also to the many teachers who will be going out to visit the students in their place of work next week.

A virtual work experience program will be run at school for students who have not been able to get a placement. All of these Year 10 students are expected at school next week for this compulsory program.

Ms. Michelle Roberts

Principal