Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Onsite/Remote Learning

It has been pleasing to see the majority of students who are attending onsite act so responsibly in the wearing of a face mask each day, since last Thursday. There have been very few students who have required a disposable mask from us. Attendance has also been excellent for our Year 11 and 12 students (VCE/VCAL) and Year 10 VCAL students.

Each day I have to report our attendance data for onsite to the region and it has been averaging 90-95% each day, which is most pleasing. We are also supervising 20-30 students in Years 7-10 each day and they are completing their remote learning under the supervision of one of our familiar casual relief teachers, supported by some of our integration aides. In addition, on some days these students are also supported by their Year Level Coordinator to ensure they are keeping up with the remote lessons and set class work.

During these strange and uncertain times it is still very important for students to understand the importance about living our school values in school and out of school in the community and the importance of modelling our core values at all times as representatives of this great school. Students will demonstrate that they are proud of their school by their actions and behaviours. For example, behaving appropriately, respecting others and working to the best of their ability in all online classes. For students attending onsite, wearing their face mask or face covering and behaving appropriately to and from school, in class and in the yard; respecting the environment by using the bins for their rubbish and working to the best of their ability in all classes.

Please continue to refer to our remote learning guide for parents and students, a link to which is attached below:

In addition, please find below the learning from home information for parents on the DET website:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/learning/Pages/home-learning.aspx

A reminder to please contact the College if you or your child have any concerns or questions during this period of remote learning. We want all our students to be successful and will be available to assist in any way we can.

Student Blog

Congratulations to Elisa Barone, School Captain, who has set up the following blog to support students with remote learning 2.0. https://bar00910.wixsite.com/mysite 

This was shown to all students in their My Mentor lesson last Wednesday and will continue to be updated with contributions from students to support one another during these uncertain times.

School Closures

This week some of our fellow Kingston Network schools have closed for deep cleaning, with confirmed COVID cases. We are NOT one of these but I want to briefly outline the process IF our school ever has to be closed, to help with planning.

When a school is closed, generally on short notice, no one is allowed onsite for any reason, including all staff and students.

COMPASS notifications and an SMS will be immediately sent out to ALL families. The timing of these might be less than ideal (some schools were sending these at 11pm) but they will be necessary to help keep our community informed and safe.

Families of students registered for on-site supervision would need to make alternative arrangements for their child.

Identified and reported cases of COVID-19 are lodged with the DET Emergency Management Team and DHHS staff, and a case manager is allocated to each school. Once we have been contacted by our case manager, we will follow designated communication protocols and get all necessary information to you as soon as possible.

Most schools will be closed for 72 hours. However, it can take longer depending on how long it takes to complete the contact tracing process.

I am hopeful that we will not need to enact this process and we will remain free of this virus. However, to be prepared, I am asking all staff to take home everything they need each night, just in case we have to suddenly close and revert back to remote learning for senior classes for any school closure period. Senior students should do the same - empty their lockers and then just bring what they need for their timetabled classes each day at school.

Parent Teacher Student Interview Arrangements

We have decided to go ahead with Parent/Teacher/Student interviews on Wednesday 19 August, conducting these remotely rather than onsite, with a revised time period of 9.30am-5.30pm. Course counselling appointments in Senior School have worked well using Google Meet and we are planning to do the same for Parent/Teacher/Student interviews. Parents will still book their times in using the Compass parent teacher interviews portal and then, once this is closed, students will receive an invitation from their teachers through their Mordialloc College Gmail accounts. As it will be a pupil free day, the student is expected to attend the remote interview with their parent. Assistant Principal, Andrew Moffat, will send out the information soon about the process and when Compass bookings will be open.

Literacy and Numeracy Intervention for our Senior School students

This year we have received additional funding to support Year 10 and 11 students who require intervention support in Literacy, Numeracy or both. Lisa Ip is our Literacy Intervention teacher and she has been working with a select group of students in Year 10, teaching the mainstream Year 10 English curriculum with more focus on functional skills. This provides for pathways into VCE and VCAL. Lisa also works with some Year 10 and 11 VCAL students one on one, supporting them to complete their literacy outcomes. Damien Power works here two days a week in the position of Numeracy Cluster teacher where he is working across three secondary schools. Damien is supporting identified students in Year 10 and 11 mainstream and VCAL with their numeracy skills.

In 2021 there will be explicit reporting of literacy and numeracy attainment for all school leavers. Students completing VCE or VCAL will, as part of their senior secondary qualifications, receive information about whether they have demonstrated or exceeded the literacy and numeracy standards typically expected of those entering the workforce from school. The existing General Achievement Test (GAT) will be modified so that the test enables clear, explicit information about the standard of both literacy and numeracy attainment. From 2021, all VCE and VCAL students will be required to sit the GAT in June. (Currently it is only VCE students). From 2021, VCE and VCAL students will receive a statement of their GAT results, which will indicate whether they have “demonstrated”, “not demonstrated” or “demonstrated to a high level” literacy and numeracy standards. The new GAT from 2021 will assess the literacy and numeracy skills required for work and further study necessary to meet the demands of every day work and life in a knowledge based economy e.g. interpreting data from tables, completing forms and records properly and communicating and interpreting information clearly and accurately. For VCE students, the GAT will continue to play an important role in providing students with a derived score in the event that they experience conditions that prevent them performing to their full potential in the end of year exams.

Literacy and Numeracy Support for our Middle School students

Julie Pretty, one of our Integration support staff, is working full time in the intervention program at Year 7 & 8, and teacher Eleni Capp also has time within her teaching allotment dedicated to this program. Students are provided with one to one support or in small groups mainly focused on literacy intervention, with some numeracy intervention for identified students. In Year 9, students have the opportunity to select an elective focused on Literacy and Numeracy development. We ran two classes of this elective in Semester One and we had enough students selecting it again in Semester Two for a class to run. It is really pleasing that students are keen to continue to improve their skills. The outcomes for the past four years of the intervention program across Years 7-9 have been so positive with the majority of students showing growth over the year, along with an increase in their confidence and self-esteem.

In addition, this year we have employed our own speech pathologist, Fiona Biss, for two days a week. Fiona is working with students identified by our teachers as needing very specific literacy support. She has been able to tailor a program to address each student's particular learning needs, working with them one to one or in small groups.

Resources to Support Wellbeing

Please see the following links to some helpful articles from headspace for both students and parents.

FOR STUDENTS

Beyond Blue Surviving School before, during and after COVID 19. 

A guide to dealing with constant change due to COVID 19

5 steps to study success at home 

7 tips to help with stress and anxiety

Tips to keep good mental health

FOR PARENTS

How to have a great conversation

Tips for supporting a teenager who is stressed

Surviving Year 12 (for parents)

Please stay safe, connected and well everyone.

Michelle Roberts

Principal