Whole School 

Progress Reports

Progress reports for Term 3 will be available to parents and carers via Compass on Friday 20th August 2021.

Tin Food Tower

I am ready program

A group of our students from year 9 to year 12 are participating in the I am Ready program which assists secondary school students in the transition from school to further education and employment and  is delivered across Gippsland by a Partnership between the NDCO region 17 and the Gippsland Local Learning & Employment networks in Baw Baw Latrobe, South Gippsland/Bass Coast and Gippsland East.

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The I Am Ready program commenced yesterday Thursday 4th August and will now run every Thursday for the remainder of Term 3. 

The workshop kicked off with some ‘get to know you’ ice-breaker activities and team building. We learnt about each student’s strengths and career interest areas. We discussed ‘Why we work’ and talked about different career pathways. 

Alongside the learning topics for this week, there was also a brief introduction to the 8 employability skills which will be covered throughout the 8 weeks. 

Year 7 Mentor program

As part of her VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) studies, Bairnsdale Secondary College Year 12 student Ellen Stewart has developed and delivered an extremely successful program for senior students mentoring Year 7 students. 

The VCAL qualification provides students with the skills and knowledge required to make informed choices about future employment and education pathways.  When students participate in the VCAL program they are required to complete units from the following strands:

• Literacy and Numeracy Skills
• Industry Specific Skills
• Work Related Skills
• Personal Development Skills.

Ellen developed the Year 7 Mentor Program as part of Personal Development Skills unit. This unit focuses on the development of knowledge and skills in relation to resilience, self-esteem and efficacy, health and wellbeing, family and social connectedness, environmental awareness, critical and creative thinking, planning and organisational skills, problem-solving and interpersonal skills.

Ellen’s Year 7 Mentoring Program was driven by her personal experiences of the transition to Secondary College.  Ellen was struggling with getting work done and was not confident with asking for help.  Ellen felt that one to one time with a senior student to help answer any questions would have been really valuable.

The Year 7 Mentor Program is about Year 11 and 12 students (mentors) coming together to assist Year 7 students (mentees) to show them that asking for help when they need it will assist them with the rest of their schooling. The program will help Year 7 students to gain confidence in their learning and themselves to make the next 5 years of secondary school easier.

The program is not only helping Year 7 students but also benefits Years 11 and 12 gaining confidence in talking to new people and improving their communication and team work skills.

As part of the planning and establishment of the program Ellen met with Year 7 Assistant Principals and the VCAL Co-ordinator, presented the idea to senior students and developed an application process for both mentors and mentees. Year 7 students were matched with senior students and celebrated the commencement of the program with a ‘meet and greet over a hot chocolate’.

The feedback from students has been “an overwhelming success!”, so much so that the program will continue to run with more Year 7 and senior students eager to join in.

Senior leaders at the College were very impressed with the program and Ellen’s work and everyone is looking forward to seeing the program develop further.

Leading Teaching in VCAL Mandy Holmes said “Ellen has done an amazing job planning and implementing this program. It has been a great project for developing Ellen’s personal development skills and a fantastic legacy for her to leave the Secondary College. Thanks Ellen for all your hard work and good luck in your future ventures.”