VUSC News Issue Twelve

Dear Families, 

The end of the year is fast approaching however our staff and students are as busy as ever. Students at the Senior Campus are currently attending their Step Up programs in readiness for their next year level. Attendance at Step Up is compulsory as the teachers will be introducing the 2020 curriculum to students and providing work or reading to be done over the holidays. 

At the Junior Campus students are getting ready for their exams coming up in early December. AVID students are looking forward to the AVID Fest on Tuesday 19 November starting at 6.00pm in C Block. Families have been invited to attend to celebrate the AVID students' achievements this year. Students will display the results of their work this semester, what they have learnt and developed as a result of them being part of the AVID program. I look forward to seeing you there. 

New Mobile Phone Policy - Student Use

You may be aware that the Minister of Education has decided to introduce a new policy for students' mobile phone use at school next year. The College Board recently endorsed this policy for our school. It means that students who bring a mobile phone to school must not access it at all from the first bell to the last bell of the day, unless students are off site on a camp, excursion or other school event. The policy will be explained to students this term and a copy will be made available on Compass and our website next week. 

Deep Learning Pathway

The Deep Learning Pathway is a new program that VUSC will be implementing in 2020 to allow academically ready students to specialise in their learning in certain subject areas, gaining access to a rigorous curriculum that includes challenging content and inquiry-based learning.

Students in Year 9 can specialise in areas of English and Humanities taking an extension English class, Literature and 12 months of their chosen Humanities, either History or Economics & Legal Studies. Students can also specialise in the areas of Mathematics and Sciences, being part of an extension Mathematics class and having additional periods of Science where they undertake inquiry-based learning.

Students in Year 10 are able to apply to take advanced placement in a Unit 1 & 2 VCE subject. These students may also study Introduction to Extended Investigation, which is an inquiry- based learning unit where students are able to pursue academic research in a field of their interest. Students can apply for the Deep Learning Pathway if they have:

• An average of B or above; and
• 90% Attendance; and
• Demonstrate College school values.

Applications for the Deep Learning Pathway will be open in the next few weeks. 

Families' intentions for next year

Planning for 2020 staff and classes is well underway. The key aspect of our planning is to ensure the provision of the widest viable curriculum designed to cater to student pathways and choice. In order to assist with the planning for 2020, I ask that families who are aware that they may be transitioning out of Victoria University Secondary College to please let us know as soon as possible. We have a significant number of students on our waiting list and this will allow us to plan effectively for our classes in 2020.

If you are moving out of the area or transitioning to a different education provider, please let the following Leaders know:

Middle Years Engagement Leader (Years 7-9) -  Mr Brendan Saker

Later Years Engagement Leader (Years 10-12) - Mr Dan Sullivan

2020 Victorian Young Leaders to China Program

Congratulations to the nine Year 9 students who have successfully applied to participate in the Victorian Young Leaders to China tour in  March/April next year. Mr Hung On and Mr Mark Boulos will be accompanying the students on this tour. 

PLC Visits on 30th October and 13th November

VUSC hosted two Professional Learning Community (PLC) visits this term at our Trade Training Centre. Over 60 leaders from different schools around Victoria were excited to do some ‘Learning Walks,’ get into our classrooms at the Junior Campus and observe students working in collaboration, observe our vocabulary instruction, numeracy strategies, and the classroom environment. 

The visitors then observed some Professional Learning Team (PLT) meetings in action. They were glowing in their praise of what they saw and all of them returned with ideas for their school. Mr Dowie, Mr Tuckerman and I noticed how far ahead VUSC is in terms of its teaching and learning as well as the PLT work. The visitors also singled out our student leaders, the classroom environment, Cornell notes, uniform, and our consistent and clear approach to teaching and learning as being exemplary. The word ‘consistency’ popped up time and time again.

Our teachers continue to demonstrate that they are among the very best. It’s always pleasing to have Department heads and other school leaders see what great work staff at VUSC are doing. It was pleasing to see how confident our students were when speaking to our visitors and the feedback from the leaders was extremely positive and encouraging.  Thank you to Mr Dowie for the time and effort he put in to organising the day.

Year 12 Celebration Day

On Wednesday 23rd October our Year 12 students celebrated their final day of school. Their costumes were creative and colourful, as you can see in the photo above, and the students, although sad at leaving enjoyed the wonderful breakfast the staff prepared for them. We then had a campus assembly to wish the graduating class of 2019 all the luck in the world with their exams and/or chosen pathway. Thank you to the Senior School team for the organisation of a lovely day; and to the Year 12’s who celebrated with joy and respect and, again made us so proud of them.

Elaine Hazim

College Principal

Child Safety

Victoria University Secondary College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.

Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.

Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy.

1. Commitment to Child Safety
2. Child Safety Policy
3. Child Safety Code of Conduct
4. Child Protection Policy and Procedures