Middle School Report

Middle School - Assistant Principal - Report

Phil Adams.

I would like to thank staff and students for welcoming me into Edgars Creek Secondary College, as the newly appointed Assistant Principal for Middle Years. I am looking forward to working together with the school community, as we move forward into an exciting phase of the future of the college.

Student Led Assemblies

This week I had the privilege of speaking to both the Year 7 and the Year 8 cohort at the year level assembly. We spoke about a number of things throughout the assembly such as the importance of our value of ‘respect for all’, our uniform requirements and punctuality to class. The assembly was brilliantly compered by student representatives from Year 7 and 8, demonstrating the public speaking skills that we have amongst our student population. Our focus for our inside and outside spaces is based around being ‘safe, calm and respectful’

Classroom Visits

Throughout this week I also had the opportunity to visit a number of classes and talk to students about their learning. I even learnt some algebra along the way, which was expertly demonstrated by some of our Year 8 students. The visits demonstrated to me the positive climate for learning that has been well established at Edgars Creek Secondary College. It was also great to see the learning that was being demonstrated by both students and teachers in the classroom.

Every day counts.

Finally, I just wanted to make some important points about attendance at Edgars Creek Secondary College. Below are some key findings from a research paper called 'Every Day Counts’. It demonstrates the importance of being at school everyday.

* Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

* We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.

* There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.

* Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

I look forward to the continuation of our learning and our work throughout the remainder of the term.

I will leave you with one of my favourite quotes.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Achievements

The first five weeks of term three have been progressing very quickly! The start of this term has been filled with great learning opportunities for both our students and teachers!

Firstly, we would like to recognise and congratulate one of our Year 8 students, Adam Newman.

Adam has been recognised as one of the top five entries in the state of Victoria in the 2019 Parliament Prize Competition. While Adam’s focus was around voting procedures, which is a highly complex topic, he was able to make his speech accessible and engaging for everyone. The judges were impressed by how clearly and confidently he presented his arguments for proportional representation.

Student Voice and Agency at ECSC

‘Students have a right to be heard. In student-focused schools, student participation goes beyond students having a voice only through their representation in an SRC or similar body. When students meaningfully participate in decision making about their learning, they are more likely to remain involved in education and to achieve better results.’

Staff at Edgars Creek SC, through evidence based research and government initiatives, have been focusing on ‘student voice’ and ‘student agency’. Student voice, described by a group of Year 8 students, is “when students have an input into class activities, assessments and what happens within the school.”

Teachers have been working hard with students and other teachers to implement student voice in their classes. Some of the examples of student voice being demonstrated throughout the subjects include:

Year 8 SEPEP - choosing their choice of sport for the term.
Year 7 and 8 Food Technology - having the choice of the food they will cook
Year 7 and 8 English - having the choice for their independent reading book.

Another example of student voice is the introduction of the scarves and beanies. Students were given 3 designs of beanies and scarves to choose from and through student voting, the decision on the final design was made. Many students are embracing the new school wear and are looking nice and warm on the cold winter days.

Student voice and agency working at ECSC -School beanies and scarves now available to purchase at the front office

Awards

Congratulations to the following students who were recognised by their teachers for showing the school value ‘Embrace Learning’ in their specialist classes this term.

Zinalabden Al-Alzahra – for being very engaged in the binary unit and volunteering multiple times to work out binary equations on the whiteboard in front of his peers and offered assistance to those who are struggling.

Reina Lay – for always being engaged in learning tasks and extending herself in all areas of the binary unit.

Fatima Al Sekafi – for her excellent work ethic and always trying her best in complex binary equations.

Turker Cakal – for being motivated & independent student and shown improvement in his binary equations.

Alize Perkins - for always being engaged in learning tasks and extending himself in all areas of the binary unit.

Yi Xuan Chong – for always trying her best and being an independent learner who co-operates well with others.

Jarryd Polden -for enthusiasm and great contribution in lessons by sharing his creative and individualistic ideas.

Fatima Al Quraini - for creative and colourful exploration of art concepts in your sketchbook.

Esra Al Moosawi -for always being enthusiastic and engaged in wanting to know more about the world of Food.

Hadi Mansour -for great experimenting, creativity and fun idea development in your sketchbook.

Chhavi Joshi – For embracing a new subject with great enthusiasm and joining in class discussion with a positive attitude

Filip Stojanovski –for clever design ideas and a creative sketchbook.

James Dimech - for displaying excellent vocabulary in Media and contributing to class discussions regarding the film.

Cassie Butrakoski - For being engaged in all the learning activities and asking questions to further her understanding of production elements.

Sofiana Havili- for always being engaged in learning tasks and extending herself in all areas of the film analysis unit.

James Micelotta - for displaying excellent vocabulary in Media and contributing to class discussions regarding the film.

Arnie Aulakh - for always trying his best and being an independent learner who co-operates well with others.

Emily Dimovski - for being motivated & independent student and shown improvement in Media

Cooper Richards- for being an enthusiastic artist through clever and creative designs in your sketchbook.

Assal Sakhrawi -for her amazing growth in knowledge in food technology in the first 4 weeks

Nick Page -for always being enthusiastic about exploring the world of Food and aiming to be successful in classwork.

Hawera Almurhaj -for being an enthusiastic artist and creating a fun 3 dimensional sketchbook cover.

Phil Adams, Belinda Mckenzie & Rachael Salter.