Principal's Update

Dear Families, Students and Community members,

Farewell to the Class of 2017 

To celebrate the achievements of our Year 12 students, on Tuesday 24 we held our whole school farewell assembly in our new gym with the majority of our Year 12 parents in attendance to recognise this significant occasion – the conclusion of six years of secondary schooling. The Year 12 cohort have been wonderful ambassadors and have contributed so much to our College, having represented us in countless sporting, cultural and academic events. They have worked really hard this year with our emphasis on high expectations in everything we do and we are all proud of them. On behalf of the whole College Community, I would like to wish all Year 12 students every success for the examination period, which will begin on Wednesday 1 November. I am confident they will all achieve the VCE or VCAL results they deserve and have worked towards all year with much persistence. No matter what their pathway on leaving Mordialloc, as long as they continue to strive to achieve the best they can, they can be satisfied. I would like to congratulate all of our Year 12 leaders. Elena Holland and Finn McHenry as School Captains, Imogen Kane and Scott Kingsbury as Vice-Captains, Hannah Blavo and Francois Van Der Berg for Performing Arts, Kelsey David for Visual Arts, Serena Sykes and Declan Brightman for Sport, Noraine Zuniga and Sam Trewavas for Special Events, Natalie Wood and Ethan Hersey-Kilner for Environment, Bodie Longstaff for ICT and Jason Tang for International Students. They have all been proactive leaders for our school and have handled the challenges of combining Year 12 studies with the responsibilities and expectations of student leadership with distinction!

Another big event, the Valedictory Dinner is to be held this Friday night at Southern Golf Club. This night will be an opportunity for parents, teachers and students to get together in a formal setting to reflect on the past year and recognise the achievements of our Year 12 students.  The class of 2017 have made an outstanding contribution to our school and we are proud of each and every one of them. I would like to thank Director of Senior School Jo Greenhalgh, Year 12 Coordinator Tim Randell, Pathways Coordinator Jane Jamieson, Assistant Principal Andrew Moffat and all of our Year 12 teachers who have all worked tirelessly to support our Year 12 students this year.

We look forward to celebrating the achievements of the graduating class for 2017 at this year’s awards night in December, when all students will be presented on stage in academic gowns in front of the rest of the College Community.  This also allows the community a final opportunity to wish them well for the future.

Art Show 

Held on Tuesday 17 October as part of our Arts Celebration week, this was a true community event with the talents of Mordialloc staff and students, our local primary school students and community members on show. Instead of using the EZ we held this years Art Show in our new Performing Arts Centre and also the Hub. Despite the warm weather there was a positive turn out reinforcing the value the community places on such an event. An incredible amount of work went into the preparation and the Art and Technology team deserves the highest praise for their commitment to the College and dedication in ensuring the delivery of this quality event where over 450 pieces of student and community work were framed by our staff and exhibited. Special thanks to Emily Court and Jenni Wunderle for coordinating this event, supported by Kathryn Bevan, Demis Danoudis, Stuart McIntyre, Nigel Maas, Kelly-Ann Ferguson, Simon Cummins, Kelly McConville, Eddy Roberts, Jane Jamieson, Lana Paten and Amber McHugh.

It’s Academic

We look forward to the annual Mordialloc College Academic Challenge for our feeder primary schools grade 5 students being held this Friday in the Year 7 LC. The event is run by our Middle School captains. This year we have eight of our feeder primary schools competing in this challenge, in front of an audience of 200 students and staff from Year 7. It not only offers a unique taste of secondary school life, whilst making learning fun and relevant; it also provides valuable leadership and event management skills for our Year 9 Middle School leaders. Thanks to Daniel Williams and our Middle School captains Elisa Barone, James Vicendese, Ava Collison and Taiyo Sekine for organising the event.

The Great Debate!

Our traditional and one of the most anticipated events for the year – the Staff vs Student debate was held on Friday 13 October and was watched by the whole school on the topic “this house doesn’t believe in grading in schools,” with staff speaking in the affirmative and students against. This was the twentieth debate held at the College with the students holding a slender lead overall of 10 to 9, so the outcome of this debate was either going to level the score or see the students increase their lead. Representing the staff were Mr James Nicklen, Ms Amy Webber and Ms Meaghan Baker. Representing the students were Finn McHenry, Charlie Brooks and Jemima Cleaver. It was a very engaging and close debate, with the students winning 217 points to the staff 197 points.

Making the News

Last week the opening of our new gym was featured in the leader newspaper. Click on this link to read the article if you didn’t see it. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/inner-south/news-story/ca273673aa0b4ba9cb530c056bff3289

Ms. Michelle Roberts

Principal