Curriculum Day, Monday 2 November

The school will hold a Curriculum Day next Monday 2 November. Teaching staff will continue work on developing courses in line with the Australian Curriculum.

There will be no classes held on this day.

Australian Fashion Awards

On behalf of the school community, we would like to congratulate Mr Nick D'Aglas and Mr Michael Bowden and all the students in the Year 10, 11 and 12 Fashion program for their outstanding success in this year’s schools’ section of the Australian Fashion Awards last Friday night.

Not only were they awarded First Place in the overall competition, but they also achieved multiple first, second and third places in the individual categories. For the fifth time, they have been awarded the John Claringbold cup for best school - a fabulous recognition of the creativity, time and meticulous work that goes into each and every outfit.

First Place

My Nguyen 12C - Recycled Open

Anh Hoang / Thi Pham 10B - Daywear Open

Casey Quach 12C - Costume Open

Model, Angelic with the Recyled dress designed by My Nguyen, Designers Anh Hoang with her Daywear design and Casey Quach with her Costume design.

Second Place

My Nguyen 12C - Long Gown Open

Simone Truong 12D - Calico Open

Carla McGuire 10E - Calico Year 9-10

Third Place

Carla McGuire 10E - Upcycle Year 9-10

Teacher Games

The 20th Victorian Teacher's Games were held in Shepparton from the 20-23 September, with 2532 teachers from state and independent schools competing in 38 events. St Albans Secondary College was well represented with three staff completing in the games, Mr Mark Micallef taking his sixth Gold Medal in his specialty, the Road Race. He then surprised himself with the Bronze Medal in the Individual Time Trial, a discipline he rarely attempts.

Mr Owen McIntyre and Mr Steven Vo also competed in the Games and won Gold Medals in the fiercely competitive sport of "Dodgeball". Inspired by the movie Dodgeball, Mr McIntyre & Mr Vo trained heavily on Friday afternoons with the Year 12 students.

All three teachers will be back next year to defend their titles at the 21st Teachers' Games to ensure that the Trophy remains at St Albans Secondary College.

Congratulations, Mark, Owen & Steven.

Mr Mark Micallef

Mr Owen McIntyre & Mr Steven Vo

New Arrival

Congratulations to Simon & Michelle Moore on the arrival of their beautiful daughter Hazel May Moore, born on Saturday 19 September weighing 2.9kg.

All are doing really well, and we wish them every happiness.

Mr Simon Moore with his daughter Hazel May

Thank you to NAFDA

The school has won a $1000 Food for Kids Grant.

An Australian owned & operated organisation NAFDA, who deliver and supply our school canteens ,organised a competition for the $1000.

The school had to write 250 words or less about how that money would benefit the Breakfast Club.

And were successful. Congratulations!

Ms Carmel Castorina, Ms Maree Wilke being presented with the $1000 cheque from Ms Cheryl Sneddon from Select Food Group

VCAL ANZAC Day – A Special note of recognition

In a recent article highlighting the successful ANZAC DAY Commemorative Service run by the school’s VCAL students, one student was accidentlly left off the thank you list. Mr Henry Ton was a key contributor to the arrangements and presentation of the day. Henry read a passage during the ceremony and was instrumental in it being the success it was.

Our sincere apologies go to Henry for this oversight and a special thankyou to him for his commitment and involvement in this important event.

Transition News

Term 4 is a very busy time for transitions into the College.

On Tuesday 27 October all Grade 6 students who will be in Year 7 in 2016 will participate in the Big Day In. On this day they will meet our Well Being Team, and have an opportunity to make new friends.

Orientation Day for the new Year 7 students will be held on Tuesday 8 December. This preceded by a Parent Information session on Monday 7 December.

These events are important in helping to create a smooth transition into the school for our new Year 7 students in 2016.

Any questions about the transition program should be directed to Ms Marlene Cassar.

Progress Reports

Progress reports for Year 10 and 11 students will be available during the week commencing Monday 26 October.

Year 7 to 9 progress reports will be available during the week starting Monday 9 November.

These reports will available on the Parent Portal.

Where there are concerns in multiple subjects coordinators will make contact with parents to discuss.

Exams and Semester Tests

During Term 4 students from Years 9 to 11 will sit exams or semester tests.

Commencement dates for these are:

Year 11 Wednesday 4 November
Year 10 Wednesday 18 November
Year 9 Monday 16 November (Core classes only).

Parent Opinion Survey

During Term 3, 188 surveys were sent out to parents. These surveys are designed to enable us to gain feedback from parents about their perceptions of the school. This helps us to know which areas we are doing well in, and which areas we may need to investigate further or make changes.

This year the sampled parents gave a clear endorsement of our work in the areas of School Improvement, Parent input, Reporting, Student Safety and Classroom Behaviour.

Areas where parents identified further work may be needed included Approachability, Transitions and Social Skills.

We thank all those parents who took the time to give us this valuable feedback.

Car Park Project Well Underway

Late in Term 3 the school Finance Committee, with School Council and Department of Education approval, took an important decision to redesign the school staff car park. The decision was prompted by a couple of factors. As the school has increased it's student numbers, requiring additional staff, the demand for staff and visitor parking has increased to the point where it has become very difficult to find a parking space. The original design was also very inefficient with drivers having to track back through the area to exit.

We were hoping to complete the project within 2- 3 weeks but it has drawn out to the expected completion date of Friday 23 October. When completed we will have extra parking spaces for staff, a more efficient traffic flow situation, a totally sealed driving surface and better solutions for school deliveries and disabled parking.

The school is very grateful for the support of staff who have had to park off-site for the past few weeks, and we appreciate their cooperation in helping the school achieve a high quality outcome with this exciting project.

New Classrooms Arrive

With the school’s increased enrolment for next year our negotiations with the Department of Education have resulted in the school taking delivery of 2 new double portable classrooms in the last week. It has been a source of great interest for us all to see these classrooms arrive in sections, then to be placed on special concrete supports and joined together to create brand new teaching spaces. These two new buildings precede a third science portable which we expect to arrive in January ready for the school year.

A big thank you to all yard duty & facilities staff who have provided supervision during the delivery and construction to ensure student safety.

And finally.......

Very best wishes to our Year 12 VCE students for their exams. As Year 10 and 11 exams and Year 9 semester tests commence in the next few weeks, we encourage all students to begin preparing for these.

Year Level Coordinators will be in touch with all families where a student's progress is not satisfactory in two or more subjects.

Local Newspaper Reports

Brimbank Leader