Dear Families,

As we reach the mid-point of the term and look ahead to the rest of the year, it is important to remember some of our basic expectations of students:

Attendance – every lesson counts. Students are expected in class at 9am and should not need to go back to their lockers or the bathroom during class time.
Materials – it is important in these senior years of schooling that students have developed and maintain essential organisational skills – this starts with bringing all the right materials to class, including laptops, pens, workbooks, and textbooks as a minimum.
Uniform – all students are expected in full school uniform every day. This includes fully black shoes. Under no circumstances are hoodies permitted.

High Levels of Expectation and Support

We continue to have high expectations of student behaviour and effort so that learning and progress can be maximised. We do this with high levels of support to ensure that students have the strategies and resources to achieve their very best.

One of the most important ways for students to meet the expectations is to use every chance presented to them to learn in each lesson of the day. This begins with attending class on time ready to learn with a positive attitude and all the necessary materials and equipment. Students can fall behind quickly in their learning, particularly in the senior years, when they are late to class or absent for a period of time.

The College offers many ways of supporting our students to attend class every period and when parents/carers and teachers are sending the same message of high expectations and high levels of support to our students we see the strongest signs of success.

Mobile Phones

It is a rule in all Victorian schools that students who bring Mobile Phones to school must store them in their lockers for the duration of the school day. If students need to make phone calls during the day these can be made at the House Office or at the General Office from the school phone. If parents/carers need to contact their child, please phone the College on 9749 0246.

More information is available via the department website Mobile Phones - Student Use

Students who breach this rule are required to hand their phone into the staff member and collect it at the end of the day. Consequences for repeated breaches of the Mobile Phone Policy are outlined in the College Student Engagement and Wellbeing Policy.

Compass Access for Monitoring Achievement and Attendance

All parents should have access to the Compass parent portal which gives them access to the following key information:

Permission forms and payment for excursions and camps
Real time attendance monitoring and absence authorisation
Learning Tasks and Progressive Reporting: to enable you to monitor your child’s progress and results throughout the semester
All previous interim and semester reports
Your child’s timetable

If you need support in accessing Compass, please contact the college.

Why attendance at school is so important

School is better when you're here; when you miss school, you miss out.

Students develop good habits by going to school and being on time every day— habits that are necessary to succeed beyond school, whether in the workplace or in further study. As well as academic development, attending school every day helps your child develop crucial social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience, and the ability to work in teams.

Children and young people who regularly attend school and complete Year 12 have better health outcomes, better employment outcomes, and higher outcomes across their lives.

There is no safe number of days for missing school — each day a student misses puts them behind, affecting their educational outcomes/results. Research confirms there is a strong link between poor attendance and adverse student outcomes like early school leaving, poverty, drug and alcohol use, unemployment, criminal activity and poorer health and life expectancy.

A child missing one day a fortnight will miss four weeks in a year.

For some parents, 90% attendance may seem like an acceptable level of attendance, but the reality is that 90% attendance means that your child will miss half a school day each week, or 19 days of school a year; that's nearly 4 weeks of school.

If your child is regularly late to school, this not only adds up to many days of lost learning, but interrupts the teacher, and the whole class of learners, as they enter the room late and need help to get started.

Unless you are so sick you can't get out of bed or there is an event like a funeral, you should be at school, on time. There are no other reasons to be away from school.

Valuables and Personal Property

The College has no insurance for personal property, so responsibility for all items brought onto school grounds solely rests on the student. Students are reminded to keep their lockers always locked, not to share their locker codes, and not to bring excessively valuable items to school.

When attending P.E. students are to leave their belongings (except PE clothes) locked in their locker.

Students are reminded to keep their bikes always locked and to never leave their bikes at school overnight or over the weekend.

Kind Regards,

Simon Haber

College Principal

Year 11 Biology