Assistant Principal's Report
Year 11 & 12
It’s a busy time of term for Year 11 and 12 students as they have now learned a lot of key content and many students have several SACs every week.
We had a great time at the athletics day and I was so proud to see how Year 12 students conducted themselves. They were great role models for our younger year levels and looked great in their costumes. They did their ‘walk of honour’ down the track for their final athletics day and I commend them without reserve for their efforts and attitude.
The year 11 students had an elevate session last week to help focus their efforts in the early stages of the VCE. It can be a gigantic leap in mindset for some students from year 10 to year 11 and usually by now students have a good understanding of the practices and processes of VCE and how better to navigate them. Particularly in times of stress when many SACs are happening. Students have settled in well.
You will have already read about our wonderful discovery evening, but I would like to make a particular note of the senior students who assisted on the evening. Their work in guiding our prospective parents demonstrates the very best of Lalor Secondary College and truly admire the contribution they gave and the time that they shared with us to support grade 6 families.
Finally, parents will soon start to get results from assessment tasks now that the VCE and VCAL certificates are fully underway. I urge you to check compass for your child’s results, to attend our Parent teacher conference on the 4th of April and get as much information as you can on your child’s progress to support them through their journey in senior school.
Julie Ryan
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Year 9 & 10
The past couple of weeks have been busy ones here at Lalor Secondary College, with students working towards a range of assessment tasks in readiness for completing the first term of their studies for 2019. It has been a pleasure to see students engaged in their learning and working constructively together with their teachers to make the most of the learning opportunities provided. I would like to thank you as parents for your ongoing support of Lalor Secondary College and the interest you take in your own child’s learning. I know that family life can be busy, but taking the time out to monitor your child’s homework, discuss their progress in each of their classes and perhaps read through a piece of their work can make all the difference to supporting successful study habits not to mention strengthening those relationships we have with our teenagers. You may have also noticed a feature on Compass available to you to access teacher feedback regarding your child’s performance in a Learning Task. This feature is known as Continuous Reporting, and basically allows both students as well as parents to view feedback from the teacher, which normally would only be available on the end of semester report. As staff complete their assessment of a Learning Task they will then post this feedback onto compass. As parents you are able to click onto the particular subject that your child is doing, and under the tab called Learning Tasks be able to open a Feedback Tab. Most teachers have already started to add feedback.
In Compass, from Wednesday 27th March you will have access to Progress Reports for your child under the Report tab. These will be used as the basis for the upcoming parent Teacher conferences scheduled for Thursday 4th April. It is of importance that as parents you make time to attend, as these discussions with teachers form the basis of our partnership with you regarding the educational journey of your child. I am looking forward to meeting many of you at the Parent Teacher Conferences. For any new parents to LSC or those of you who may have questions regarding Compass access or any of the reporting features available, please see Mary Snowball who will be in the Library.
Curriculum Day
Last Friday was Curriculum Day here at Lalor Secondary College. Staff were involved in the second of five modules around the Berry Street Education model, ‘Relationships’. Late last year staff undertook the first module, ‘Body’. The modules within program serve to strengthen the art of teaching. They provide teachers with the lens and tools to support learning in classrooms by cultivating healthy emotional self-awareness, strong and positive relationships and mental and emotional states of complete engagement. The program has been purposefully designed to support the sequential development of students’ physical, psychological, social and emotional capacities. As students’ progress through their learning journey, they become better able to regulate their physical wellbeing, identify and manage their emotions, cultivate resilience and identify and use character strengths.
Introducing our Whittlesea Tech School Student Ambassadors 2019
This year through the work of Ms Lana Siryani, many of our students will have the opportunity to become involved in several programs offered at the newly built Whittlesea Tech School. This is a purpose built facility, which allows teachers to provide rich and authentic learning opportunities based around STEM, (Science, Technology, English and Mathematics.)
Congratulations to the following year 9 students who are our Student Ambassadors for 2019
Jasmine Bullock & Tarek Zeino
Congratulations also to our Deputy Student Ambassadors
Damjana Gjorgievska & Mouhamad Tayer
What the role includes:
- developing Tech School programs and activities
- attending meetings, leadership programs and the mini maker faire
- networking with students from other schools
These students will be required to represent Lalor Secondary College at the following Leadership programs throughout the year:
Term 1 – 4th April Innovation process
Term 2 – 7th June STEM Communication workshop
Term 3 – 5th September Mini Maker Faire Planning Workshop
Term 4 - 26th November Schools Mini – Maker Faire 2019
Laura Forster
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Years 7 & 8
Dear Families,
It was fabulous to tour the many and varied displays set up for visitors to Discovery Evening last Tuesday evening. I feel very privileged to work with colleagues of such vision and calibre who work tirelessly to improve learning for our students. In my mid-fifties, on nights like this I wish I could be a school student again and participate in such rich learning with talented adults. I can’t possibly name highlights … events and activities in all areas of learning at Lalor were on display and characterised by vibrance, excitement, research, creativity and passion in learning. Many parents who visited with prospective families seemed to feel just like me. It is also very telling that virtually the entire staff stayed back on a voluntary basis to present to families as this is the nature of their pride in their work. Perhaps even more wonderful, is that about 100 students stayed back to help their teachers. As I looked across the staff room at all of these students sharing dinner with all of our staff I felt that this was not just a gathering – this is a MOVEMENT of people who a passionate about education at Lalor, and immensely proud to partner in sharing the good news with our community. Thank you to our wonderful staff, and to the many year 7 and 8 students who gave up their evening to assist. I am very excited also to meet many prospective students for next year, along with their families. Please see the many interesting photos from the evening in this edition.
Just a note that as first term draws to a close, many students in years 7 and 8 will be increasingly weary, perhaps a little low at times, simply due to exhaustion after a long first term. Please encourage your children to get plenty of sleep, eat and drink healthily and communicate well with teachers about any tasks due etc. Soon they will be able to rest up on the break. Just on this, it is important that all students are prepared to undertake some project work – for example class project / novel reading / revision. We want all students to rest, but it is also important to undertake some tasks related to learning so they can come to term two well-connected to their subjects. I will have more to say about this in the final week of term.
A reminder also to stay on top of correct uniform, and where there is the need to advise of any variation to make sure that a note comes in.
Thank you all and I thank all families for the care, support and partnership you have displayed this term in the shared endeavor of providing our students with a great education.
Timothy Cottrell
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS