From the Principal

To our Class of 2021– Farewell and Best Wishes

Last Friday we celebrated the graduating class of 2021 with a Final Assembly involving our Year 12 students and staff. Sadly, the present level of restrictions meant that we were unable to have parents and family members in attendance as would usually be the case.

I felt privileged to have the opportunity to address these senior students for the final time. Apart from congratulating and thanking our students and our teachers, I took a final opportunity to share with the cohort how proud we were of them and how we collectively wished them all the very best for the exciting challenges and pathways that lay ahead

As I addressed the Final Assembly, my concluding message was;

In 2022, many of you will move to higher education where there will be less structure, at times less support and a need for greater self-reliance. Others will move into Traineeships, Apprenticeships and Employment.

It is a time for you to make an impression as being a person of integrity, substance and ambition as you continue to make your mark in life.

Your journey continues – your pathway unfolds in its unique and very special fashion.

Regardless of your future pathways through life, I am confident, that you will remember what it was like to be a student at East Doncaster Secondary College.

I would sincerely hope that our College – your school - has helped you explore who you are and what you wish to achieve; a school of opportunity and optimism; a school where you felt safe and secure and were encouraged to learn and learn well.

I thank all of you for your contribution to the College during your time here. What you have built through your range of involvements, the friendships formed and the teachers who have inspired you will, I hope, be forever etched in your minds.

Can I afford a special mention this morning to Amritha Kohli, Elliot Fong, Sulaymaan Hafeez and Vicki Cho, our College Captains and Vice Captains this year. You, along with all our students with leadership roles, have embraced the extraordinary challenges of student leadership in 2021 and have done a great job as a committed team. Well done to you all!

You have made it through 2021 - lockdowns, curfews, mask mandates, remote learning, MS Teams, internet failure, COVID tests, vaccinations and even power blackouts in two VCE exams – I think you deserve a break.

To each and every one of you this morning, I sincerely wish you all the best for the future.

It was also an absolute pleasure, during our Final Assembly, to have our past student, Saraid Taylor, a former College Captain and member of our Class of 2017 as our guest speaker (via a pre-recorded video). Saraid spoke of her fond memories of EDSC, the challenges facing our Year 12 students as they deal with final examination period and was able to share her experiences as an elite sportsperson. Her messages were of perspective, resilience, enjoyment and optimism and resonated deeply with our students – especially after the circumstance of the past two years.

I sincerely thank Saraid for her important contribution to our Final Assembly.

Following the Final Assembly, our Year 12 cohort shared a celebratory picnic lunch and participated in the now traditional ‘çolour run’ on our basketball courts to conclude the afternoon.

Farewell to our ‘Class of 2021’’- we wish them all the very best, we commend them for the spirit, resilience and determination they have shown in this most challenging year and look forward to watching their journeys in the coming years.

Enjoy more photos on the 'Senior School News' Page later in the Newsletter.

** Please note that a Compass Newsfeed will be distributed to all Year 12 parents and students within the next few days that contains a link to the edited recording of our Final Assembly. I would like to acknowledge Brett Lamb, our senior Media teacher for his considerable efforts in preparing this presentation.

Year 7 2022 Orientation Day Parent Information Evening

We will be conducting a number of activities over the coming weeks as we prepare to welcome our new students to the College next year.

From today, a “virtual” Information session video will be posted via Compass and on our College website. This will replace the Information night that we usually run “live” each year. This information session is appropriate for parents and their children. We will cover the day to day needs of a student starting year 7, provide you information about the Year 7 Camp and hear from two of our students who started with us this year who will share their experiences with you.

2022- Welcome Evening

Due to COVID19 restrictions, we are unable to meet our new families on site this year. Early in 2022, we hope to be able to send out information about our ‘Welcome Evening’ where parents and students will be able come into the College to meet the teaching staff and share some time with each other. This is quite an informal evening but it is one often enjoyed by new families to the College. We hope to conduct this in February and will communicate dates early in the new year if circumstances permit.

Orientation Day

We will be conducting our Orientation Day on-site at our College for all our Year 7 students in the class of 2022 on Tuesday 7 December.

Can I also reassure all parents and students that our planning for the day will be undertaken in full accord with the College’s COVID-Safe Plan and DET guidelines for the day.

College Presentation Event

Due to the present circumstances and a level of continued concern regarding the organisation and delivery of large group functions at external venues, our end of year College Presentation Evening will once again be showcased as an on-line event.

We have been working behind the scenes to produce a video of this event that we will share with students, teachers and parents in the final week of this term.

It is essential that we continue to provide a platform to recognise the efforts and achievements of our students. Although not our preferred option, we are hoping this presentation will be fitting acknowledgement of such student achievement and resilience in 2021. Please keep an eye out for upcoming information and links to this event.

Student Leadership in 2022

In the middle of the senior school examination period, I wanted to report to our College community that we have begun the process to elect our student leaders for next year. Our Year 11 prospective leaders delivered their (online) nomination speeches to their cohort outlining their visions for student leadership at our College. In listening to these thoughtful prospective leaders, I was impressed with the clear messages of inclusion, unity, social cohesion and student connection. The School Captains and Vice Captains will be announced at an assembly of all Year 11 students next week.

Our Year 8 student leaders are also engaged in the process of applications for Middle School Captains and Vice-Captains.

We are very proud of these students and are looking for them to be highly influential in leading our student body next year.

I will announce our student leadership teams in the next edition of our College Newsletter.

Alpine School for Leadership

East Doncaster Secondary College has been fortunate enough to once again secure student placements at the Alpine School for the duration of this term. With the current circumstances, it seemed unlikely in the initial stages of this term that our students would be able to participate in this experience, it is therefore with great delight that we are able to confirm their placement. The seven Year 9 students currently participating in the program are: Molly, Ammar, Anson, Marina, Stephanie, Amogh and Michael.

The Alpine School is a Department of Education School, situated at Dinner Plains in the heart of the Victorian Alps, specialising in leadership and enterprise education for students in Year 9. The school accepts leadership teams from several schools at a time, generally selected from schools in paired Metropolitan and Country regions. This enables around 45 students from differing backgrounds to share the experiences and opportunities provided through the program. The school aims to develop skills in leadership, enterprise education and team-based learning. The Alpine School has a permanent staff of highly trained specialist teachers and instructors in leadership, curriculum and outdoor education.

All reports received thus far are that our team are enjoying the experience immensely and meeting the challenges set daily in the school routine. Congratulations to them and it will be great to have them share their experiences with our wider school community upon their return later this term.

Student Report - Our names are Ammar, Amogh, Anson, Marina, Michael, Molly and Stephanie. After all the COVID lockdowns and restrictions that have been in place in Victoria, The Alpine School Campus at Dinner Plain excitedly welcomed us and other Year 9 school teams to the Term 4 2021 Alpine School Campus, School for Student Leadership (SSL) program. We are currently at the ALPINE SCHOOL CAMPUS in Dinner Plain for a 'shortened' five week block. We are joined by students from a variety of schools including: Boronia K-12 College, Alamanda College, Heathmont College, Surf Coast Secondary College, Canterbury Girls Secondary College, North Geelong Secondary College, Colac Secondary College and Oberon High School.

At the moment, we are working on a community project and our target group is students from our local primary schools. We made this choice because we know how hard it's been for primary school students during lockdown, and we wanted to help them recover from the effects of lockdown. Our project, which will be implemented next year, will focus on physical, mental and creative activities that the young members of our community have missed in the past 18 months. We look forward to exploring this project and enjoying the other aspects of the Alpine school in the coming weeks.

by Ammar, Amogh, Anson, Marina, Michael, Molly and Stephanie (Year 9)

Outstanding Student Achievement

It will be referenced in a later section of this Newsletter, however, I wanted to acknowledge our Year 7 student, Dannu for his recent achievement in being awarded a prize in a prestigious STEM challenge.

Dannu was awarded 3rd place in his age group (Years 7-8) for the IBM EdTech AI Challenge conducted by the Melbourne Museum for his project submission on “Detecting Frog Calls in the Manningham Area”.

Congratulations Dannu!

John Roberts

Principal

Parent Payment arrangements for 2022

The Parent Payment arrangements for 2022 are now available via Compass on your home page under “Course Confirmation/Payments”.

Payments can be made through Compass or directly to the College via credit card or cash using the College Payment Envelope (when the General Office re-opens to parents).

If you do not wish to pay via Compass, please ensure you return a copy of the completed form to the General Office, available under “pay in person at the school” link at the bottom of the page in Course Confirmations/Payments, or you can request a copy from the College via

parentpayments@eastdonsc.vic.edu.au

Payments were due by Tuesday 23 November 2021

Your ongoing support of the College allows us to continue to offer a broad range of programs and enhanced curriculum experiences.

Please refer to the attached Parent Payments Policy and further links to information via

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/parent-payment/policy

College Philosophy

At East Doncaster Secondary College we have a strong tradition of academic excellence and we aim to promote and sustain a reflective learning culture. We want students to experience a sense of achievement and growth in their academic, personal, social and emotional development. We have high expectations of our students’ commitment to being mutually supportive and striving for success as learners. We are proudly multicultural with a student population from 43 nationalities including a number of International Students. 68% of our students speak a language other than English at home.

A student’s life at school is full of opportunities, being rich and varied with a range of co-curricular activities in music, sport, productions, debating, clubs as well as camps and international experiences for the educational and personal development of students. Our students are vibrant, energetic, and talented young people. There are many student leadership opportunities and we aim to continue to increase student access to decision-making and self-determination as learners.

We endeavour to create a "Culture of Curiosity" with goals of ensuring learning improvement for every student – every student, every period, every day.

Our school’s purpose is to develop passionate learners who are critical thinkers with the confidence and capability to engage in the global community.

Care and Compassion, Curiosity, Excellence, Fairness, Resilience, Respect and Teamwork are the core values that underpin the culture of our school as we embrace the challenges of 21st Century learning.

We aim to sustain a learning culture that provides every student with a sense of achievement and of being their best in their academic, personal, social and emotional development.

Privacy and Data at East Doncaster Secondary College

East Doncaster Secondary College uses a number of digital platforms to support your child’s education, such as Compass, Google Drive and Office 365.

The College has an Information Security Policy and complies with the Department of Education and Training Privacy Policy. Click on the below link to access these documents.

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