Welcome Back to Term Four

It is always a great term, with many occasions to celebrate the success of students from all year levels. I especially enjoy the journey that begins with those coming into our college community from grade six and those exiting from our senior classes as they transition into further study or work. Term Four highlights for us the growth of our young people into adulthood.

Class of 2022

We will be farewelling our Year 12 Class of 2022 with the upcoming Valedictory dinner and the last day of formal attendance for the students on Tuesday 18 October. Their last day is always a celebration day to acknowledge not only the end of Year 12, but also the end of the thirteen years of schooling. This group of students are to be commended; when they entered their VCE and VCAL programs they were faced with lockdowns and, despite the challenges they faced, their resilience and support for each other enabled them to complete their final years of secondary schooling.

We wish all students undertaking VCE examination all the best for their final examinations. We will look forward to seeing many of them again on Wednesday 26 October when they will undertake the first of their written examinations. At this time, I wish to particularly acknowledge the support that has been ongoing from the Senior School Team, teachers, support staff and families in particular throughout the Year 12 program in 2022. Throughout the study and examination period, our staff will continue to be available.

VCE Holiday Revision Program

Over the break Year 12 students were offered additional revision preparation classes by top expert VCAA assessors. I would like to thank students and their teachers for their commitment to participating in the program, Mr Aymen Youssef, Mr Mark Corrie and Ms Emily Phibbs for the important lead roles they undertook in overseeing and delivering the program and our support team for assisting with the program booklets. Leading this program for all VCE students at Knox government school’s is an example of how Knox schools are working in partnership to raise achievement in Knox.

NAPLAN Success

After being identified in the Top 10 schools in the state in March this year for growth in our 2021 student results in reading, writing and numeracy, we have once again achieved further increases. Last week Justin Butler, Department of Education’s Senior Education Improvement Leader for Knox, presented to our staff our results which showed all mean NAPLAN scores were up in 2022 from the previous year. He congratulated our staff on our continuous growth. It is the fifth consecutive year we have exceeded network and all state schools for numeracy. Attached is an article I was asked to write for Knox Monash Kids Magazine Winter edition about NAPLAN and the purpose of its use.

Here is Zac Bissett and Wesley Ferdinands, two of our Year 9 students who received VCAA Excellence NAPLAN Awards.

Attendance Matters

'Going to school every day is the single most important part of your teenager’s education’.

Although it seems obvious, if your child is not at school they are missing opportunities to learn. It is very important that students are arriving on time and attending every day. Attendance not only maximises opportunities for learning, it helps to build and maintain social connections. Student absenteeism leads to many issues later in life, including the lower likelihood of academic success and there is even a correlation with poorer health outcomes in adulthood.

If a child is missing one day a fortnight, they will miss four weeks in a year, and more than a year of school by the time they reach Year 10. Twenty or more days absent in a year is categorised as chronic absence by the Department. We have been liaising with our Region's Attendance Officers and have been conducting meetings with parents/carers of students who may be identified at risk of chronic absences. Early detection allows us to put in place interventions and work with families to prevent students from following the trajectory towards chronic absences.

As part of Scoresby Secondary College's strategy to minimise the loss of learning we introduced a requirement for parents to apply in writing for approval of any absence greater than three days a minimum of six weeks prior to the absence (this required for all absences other than illness or similar grounds). The purpose of the six weeks-notice is required to ensure that an absence learning plan can be prepared for the extended absence so students can complete the essential work that may be missed prior to or during the absence. Any late requests will result in a non-approved absence.

If you have any concerns about getting your child to school, please speak to the relevant Year Level Coordinator or Head of School.

Establishing good long-term habits and attitudes towards punctuality and attendance are key skills that students will require for their futures.

Mrs Gail Major

Principal

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