Assistant Principal News
Welcome Back to 2021!
This year we are very excited to continue working towards to achieving our goals in the areas outlined in our Annual Improvement plan of:
These areas will be targeted through whole School initiatives such as the new Diocese funded Literacy Instruction in Writing, continuation of a Staff and Student Wellbeing program, a Staff embedded Professional Learning Program, a focus on Numeracy and continued involvement in the Dioceson wide Learning Collaborative through Professional Learning on Assessment, Instruction and Differentiation.
At the end of last year we sent out a survey to our junior students and their parents/guardians to ascertain the role that mobile phones play within the College environment. As a result the College has implemented a new expectation that no Year 7 and 8 will have their phones at the College. This includes smart watches and devices. All other students will have to leave their phones in their bags or in the phones boxes provided in classrooms to ensure they do not interrupt the learning environment.
Previously students have been permitted to have their mobile phones in class and break times as long as they adhere to a Code of Conduct. However, research supports the removal of mobile devices from the classroom to ensure a strong learning focus. If students do not adhere to these new procedures their phones will be removed for the lesson for the remainder of the school day and parents contacted.
Students who are eligible to drive are asked to collect a Permission to Drive form from the office and return it asap. Those that return the form will be allocated a Driving Permit that they will need to display on the dash of their car. In order to park in our Student car park all cars must have a permit on display, if the permit is not present students will be asked to remove their cars from the College site.
Our Stage 6 students (Year 11 and 12) have settled into their learning well in the opening two weeks. This year, to optimise learning students will only have ONE sign out period every two weeks. This occurs Thursday Week A Period 5. During this time students that do not have an allocated Extension class may sign out through the office or the Library.
Some students who attend TAFE, or students in Year 12 who have 10 units, may also be fortunate to have allocated study lessons throughout the week. This time is to be used to complete assessments, compile class notes and study class content. As per last year, Students will be expected to be at school for all of these periods. We appreciate parent support around this, as this study time is valuable for all students.
Following on from this, in 2021 our Senior Writing Group will be timetabled for one period a fortnight. This group provides additional writing support for students in a range of subject areas. Sessions will run Thursday Week A Period 5 in B4 and Tuesday afternoon Week B 3:30 - 5pm in B4. I encourage Stage 6 students who have a desire to improve their writing to attend.
Our new Year 7 students have also started the year with enthusiasm. The students have now had all of their new classes, and I am pleased to have witnessed some of the wonderful learning occurring. Year 7 students will all take part in their annual Community Day next Friday 19th February.
Finally, we would like to invite Year 7 Parents and Guardians to our New Parents evening this Thursday 11th February. The evening will be held at 6pm in the College Hall and will run for approximately 1 hour.
It will be a great opportunity to meet some of the leaders of MCC, and for students and parents to witness some of the exciting initiatives offered by the College.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Yours in learning,
Lora Segrave and Damien Herb
Co Assistant Principals